


In a Heartbeat

by srmiller



Series: My Heartbeat Sounds a lot Like Your Name [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Bellarke, Modern Universe, Multi, and raven is working through some stuff, bellamy and raven are best friends, but everything always ends happily, clarke's got ptsd, established wicken, ravick, wicken
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-04 17:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5343116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/srmiller/pseuds/srmiller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Raven gets hit by a drunk driver, with Clarke in the car, she doesn't have much else to do besides heal so she starts taking stock of her relationship with Wick and what's keeping her from answering a question she's pretty sure she already knows the answer to. Meanwhile Bellamy's trying to be patient with Clarke who is healing from her own wounds and Wick's kind of wishing his mother hadn't ambushed the love of his life while she was in a hospital bed. Also, he's thinking about getting a dog.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Everyday the World Goes By

**Author's Note:**

> title from that one disney show from 2000, chapter titles from the theme song

Wick walked through the doors of the emergency room with Bellamy close behind.

They’d run into each other just outside of the hospital and exchanged what little information they’d had: Raven and Clarke had been in a car accident and Raven had been rushed to the hospital.

They turned the corner to the waiting room where Clarke was standing in the middle of a sea of cushioned chairs, her head turning at the sound of their footsteps and she immediately rushed into Bellamy’s arms and it looked as if they grabbed each other hard enough to leave bruises.

Wick was pretty sure he heard Bellamy mutter ‘fuck’ under his breath which, knowing them, was some kind of endearment.

“Raven?”

 Clarke pulled back but kept her arms securely around Bellamy as if she’d fall over if she let go. “She’s going to be okay but she got pierced by some glass, it went deep into her leg. They don’t know yet how much damage it caused but they’re getting ready to do surgery to remove the glass and clean up the wound so they can get a better look.”

Sinking into one of the chairs Wick rested his head in hands, “Thank God.”

“I texted Lincoln,” she added. “He’s working tonight, once he’s done with his rounds on the pediatric floor he’s going to come down and give us more information.”

Wick nodded, processing the information as best he could- _Raven_ and _Okay_ was about all he could handle right then-but when he looked up he noticed small cuts on Clarke’s face and hands. “How are you? Are you okay?”

“The car hit the driver’s side front bumper so I got cut by some glass but I’m fine. Raven got the brunt of it.”

She said it like an apology and Wick was about to tell her she didn’t need to be sorry for being okay but Bellamy spoke up first.

“Did you get checked out?”

“I’m fine,” she repeated, shifting so she no longer clung to Bellamy but instead held his hand as Lincoln came through the doors which led to the ER.

He looked impossibly comfortable in his blue scrubs covered with bright balloons despite the fact he was big enough to look like he could crush a watermelon with his bare hands. Wick had never met anyone who fitted the term ‘gentle giant’ more than Octavia’s husband.

“Will you check out her cuts?” Bellamy said as way of greeting.

“Bellamy,” Clarke sounded exasperated and Wick tried not to rush the conversation because they could argue about Clarke getting checked out later. He wanted to see Raven. _Now_.

“If you don’t let him check you out I’m calling your mom.” Bellamy turned to his brother-in-law, “If you’ve got time I’d appreciate it.”

Lincoln nodded, “No problem, come back and I’ll take a look.” Lincoln rested a big hand on Wick’s shoulder, “And I’ll take you to Raven.”

He could kiss the man. “Thank you. How is she? Do you know?”

Turning around Lincoln led them towards the locked door, using his keycard to get them through to the other side. “She’s fine. I checked her chart on my way down. The glass is still embedded in her leg as they prep her and the OR room, but they gave her pain killers so she’s not feeling any of it, and her leg is in a stint to keep her from moving it.”

Lincoln passed by an empty, curtained room and pointed at it without looking at either Bellamy or Clarke, “Go sit.”

As Lincoln led him away Wick looked over his shoulder and thought Clarke was about to argue but she seemed to have caught Bellamy’s hard stare and relented, turning into the room as Lincoln and Wick continued down the hallway.

“She’s going to be okay, right? They’re not going to have to amputate or anything.”

“Unlikely,” Lincoln assured him and Wick appreciated his calm, steady voice. It was soothing his racing nerves. “They’re going to be worried about nerve, tissue, and muscle damage, all of which will require rehab but the important thing is the glass missed her artery by a half an inch.”

“Fuck.”

Lincoln nodded as if he agreed with the assessment. “Clarke figured out a splint before the paramedics got there which might have saved Raven’s life. If the glass had shifted and hit the vein she would have bled out before the paramedics could get to her.”

Wick looked back to where he’d last seen Clarke, baffled because she hadn’t let on she’d done a thing. “She didn’t say.”

Lincoln shrugged, “Not surprised. She’s in here.” He pulled back the curtain and Wick saw the love of his life half-sitting, half-lying in a hospital bed with a piece of glass sticking out of her leg at least three inches.

It made him weak in his knees.

“She’ll be okay,” Lincoln murmured.

Wick nodded and that’s when Raven’s eyes opened, probably realizing she was no longer alone in the cubicle. “Hey.”

“Chocolate.”

Raven stared at him, clearly confused by the unusual greeting. “Okay, I didn’t think they’d medicated me that much. What are you talking about?”

He stepped into the room and felt more than saw Lincoln step away as Wick moved towards Raven. “I was driving over here and I couldn’t remember if your eyes were more like chocolate or coffee and I was starting to panic.”

“Oh my god,” she laughed. “You wigged.”

He nodded fervently, “I wigged. The wiggiest.” He stepped up beside her bed and pressed a kiss to her forehead and closed his eyes because god, it felt a little too good to be trusted for her to be there, awake and okay.

“You’re a badass Raven Reyes.”

“I’m mostly not trying to look at it,” she admitted. Wick looked around the small space and saw a chair so he pulled it closer to the bed. Raven turned to look at him, keeping her eyes on his face.

“Thanks for coming.”

He rubbed her hand between his, trying to warm up her constantly cold fingers. “Of course. Bellamy’s here too but he’s making sure Clarke gets her cuts looked at.”

“Good, she was refusing help from the paramedics at the accident.”

“Are you okay? Lincoln said you were on pain killers.”

“Painkillers are taking care of the leg and everything else.”

“Everything else?”

“Bruises mostly,” she assured him and he thought maybe he wasn’t projecting calm as well as he thought. “They said they’re taking me up soon. I’m glad you got here before I went into surgery.”

“I can’t promise I won’t wig while you’re in surgery,” he warned her. “But I’ll try my best not to.”

“I like knowing you wigged,” she admitted with a soft smile, a rare look for the tough woman he’d fallen head over heels for. “But I need to ask you a favor.”

“Sure. Whatever you need.”

“What if I was going to ask you to kill someone?”

Wick thought about it, “Well. I don’t think I could actually pull the trigger but I could probably hire someone? I’d figure it out.”

Raven laughed, “Lucky for you I don’t want you to kill anyone. In fact, I sort of need you to do the opposite. I need to you to make sure Bellamy doesn’t get arrested for assault.”

Wick didn’t ask what she meant but his expression must have shown he was confused by her request because she sighed and moved her hand in his until her fingers curled around his. “What did Clarke tell you about the accident?”

He thought back to the call he’d gotten less than an hour ago from Clarke. “She said you were pulling out of your apartment complex and a car turning in hit you guys.”

“I saw the car that hit us,” she sighed. “It was Murphy.”

“Murphy?” The name was vaguely familiar and he blamed the panic of the last forty-five minutes on why it took so long for the name to register. “Wait, the guy who lives in your complex who looks like a serial killer? He’s the one who hit you?”

“Yeah, and when Bellamy finds out he’s going to want kick Murphy’s ass so I need to please keep my best friend out of jail.”

“I’m a little insulted you don’t think I’d kick his ass.”

“I love you Kyle, but you’re not an ass kicker. If anything you’d tamper with his car or something.”

Wick considered it and decided she was right, and the fact she said it with more than a trace of affection soothed his ego. “Okay. Fine. I’ll keep Bellamy out of jail.”

“Thank you.”

They were silent for a moment before Wick sighed. “Half an inch.”

“Huh?”

“Lincoln said the glass missed your artery by a half an inch,” he murmured, his eyes falling on the object.

“Hey,” she tugged on his hand until he looked at her. “I’m okay.”

“You almost weren’t,” and the tears threatening to clog his throat were definitely the manly kind.

There was a shuffle on the other side of the curtain before a cool, professional voice spoke up. “Ms Reyes?”

“Come in.”

A tall woman with dark hair and a warm smile stepped forward, the curtain falling behind her. “We’re ready to take you upstairs for surgery. Is this Mr. Wick?”

Wick turned his head to look at Raven, surprised the nurse seemed to know who he was.

“I told them you’d be coming,” she admitted with a shrug. “I made you my emergency contact.”

He grinned, which was probably stupid given the circumstances but he couldn’t help it. “I’m your emergency contact? Be still my heart.”

“Shut up,” she smacked his chest with the back of her hand before turning back to the nurse. “Yes, this is Mr. Wick. He’s my…person.”

Wick smiled at her, understanding why ‘boyfriend’ didn’t feel 100% appropriate at the moment, and squeezed her hand.

“We’ll keep you updated on the surgery, Mr. Wick. If you go to the Blue waiting room we’ll find you, but assume if don’t hear from us for a while no news is good news.”

With a nod he stood and brought Raven’s hand up to kiss it, “I’ll be waiting for you when you wake up.”

“You don’t have to,” she rushed to assure him. “You don’t know how long this will take.”

“I’ll be waiting.” He hesitated, not sure if he should ask the question on his mind but figured if he didn’t now he wouldn’t have another chance. “Do you want me to call your mom?”

“Clarke already asked me,” Raven sighed. “I’ll think about calling her later, once I’m released, but I don’t need or want her around right now.”

“All right,” he leaned forward and kissed her. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

And with that they rolled her down the hall towards an elevator and Wick turned his head when he heard someone settle behind them. “Can you make sure they keep the piece of glass? She’ll want it later.”

Lincoln smiled, “I can do that.”

“Thanks.”

##############################

Wick learned something new about Bellamy during the four hours that followed: he paced when he was nervous.

Like, a lot.

Every ten minutes or so he’d stand up, Wick would meet Clarke’s exasperated eyes from across the waiting room, and she’d say his name once. Bellamy would sigh and sit back down next to her.

After the first hour the rest of the group started trickling, Octavia with her two year old daughter Meah, kept entertained by Jasper and Monty. Miller, who Wick didn’t really know except that he was Monty’s boyfriend and Bellamy’s friend, sat quietly in one of the chairs with his eyes on the floor.

Jasper had played music from his phone and Wick had given him a grateful smile, the silence had been almost oppressive and then two hours into the surgery Lincoln came into the waiting room and his daughter stood up and raced towards her father. “Hey little one.”

“Ray hurt.”

Lincoln nodded solemnly and kissed Meah’s cheek. “Yes, Ray is hurt but the doctors are fixing her up.”

Wick stood up and at the same time Monty moved to stand beside him as moral support while Octavia kissed her husband and rubbed a hand down her daughter’s back.

“How is it going?”

“It’s going well. They think they’ll be another hour tops, and then she’ll be moved to recovery. As soon as they get her settled I’ll come get you and take you back.”

He hadn’t really expected to be allowed back, he wasn’t family after all and whatever they were, however important they were to each other, wasn’t necessarily something the hospital had to recognize. “They’ll let me see her?”

Lincoln nodded, “I talked to the doctors.”

“Thank you,” and even those words couldn’t encompass how grateful he was for Lincoln making sure he could be with Raven when she woke up. “You said before they were worried about damage? Do they know the extent?”

“She’s going to need a lot of physical therapy,” Lincoln admitted. “And she’s not going to be able to live at her place anymore.”

Raven lived in an apartment complex on the second floor and Wick wasn’t sure if Lincoln was saying she wouldn’t be able to climb those stairs ever, or just for the foreseeable future.

“My bedroom is on the second floor,” Wick realized lamely.

“She can stay at my place until she figures out what she wants to do,” Bellamy offered. “I’ve got the guest bedroom downstairs.”

“Because of how deep it went and the damage it caused she’s always going to have a limp, and she’ll need to do physical therapy at home for the rest of her life to keep the muscle loose and in shape but she’ll mobile again.”

There was a collective sigh from the waiting room and Wick could practically feel the stress and tension leave the room.

Monty rested his hand on Wick’s shoulder, “Since it sounds like she’s going to pull through we’re going to head out.”

Wick nodded, it had been long day and he knew as well as anyone how exhausting waiting was. “I’ll text when she’s out of surgery.”

Everyone started gathering up their things, even Bellamy who was jostling awake a sleepy Clarke. He heard them whisper a conversation as Lincoln and Octavia huddled together with their little family and Wick remembered a time when he’d had an ache near his heart at everything he didn’t have.

But he was Raven’s person, and no matter what happened next as long as she was okay and safe nothing else mattered.


	2. I’m Learning How to Live My Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything has changed.  
> Raven wakes up in her hospital room to find Wick sitting beside her bed and knowing nothing in her life was going to be quite the same again. In short order Octavia, Bellamy, and Clarke drop by to see how she's doing and while the accident would change how she lived her life it's the surprise visitor (OMG WHAT IS WICK'S MOM DOING HERE?!?) who forces Raven to face the other changes in her life.

As she slept they moved her from recovery to a regular hospital room so when Raven woke up the room was different but the man sitting in the chair next to her bed was the same.

The morning light was coming through the window and made his blonde hair look like it was glowing, but it was the furrowed brow which made her smile. His laptop was open on his lap and she liked the fact she didn’t know if he was playing a game or working on an engineering project.

He could become equally frustrated and happy by both.

She vaguely remembered waking up in recovery, still groggy from the anesthesia and him greeting her with wide smile and presenting her with the gift of the glass shard they’d taken from her leg, proof she was a badass he'd said.

She was also pretty sure she’d asked him to sleep in the bed with her but he’d told her no, he didn’t want to hurt her.

 _You’d never hurt me_.

Drugged up Raven was apparently a sap.

“You stayed.”

He looked up at the sound of her voice and his grin was bright and the warmth of it found its way straight to her heart.

“Morning, beautiful.” He tapped a few keys on the laptop before shutting it and setting it on the floor next to his chair before standing up to kiss her. “Of course I stayed. How are you?”

“I’m going to get sick of that question, aren’t I?”

He laughed and sat back down in the chair, leaning forward with his arms resting on his knees. “Probably, but I’ll try to limit it to once a day.”

“I appreciate it.”

“The nurses said you might be in pain when you woke up and to buzz them if you need something for it.”

She shook her head, already deciding she’d use the narcotics as little as possible and Wick’s sober nod made her think he might understand. Which he probably did as he was one of the only people in the world who she’d confessed her darkest fears to.

That one day she’d turn into her mom, unable to say no to the pills or the booze, but God that was a morose thought to start the day with.

“The doctors said your surgery went great, they got out all the glass and cleaned up the wound but your leg…they said it’s never going to be the same.”

She closed her eyes and tried to bite back the rage she could feel bubbling inside of her.

He brushed away the single tear which slipped through at the corner of her eye.

“They arrested Murphy,” he murmured. “They’re charging him with…Well, you’ll have to ask Octavia, but she says they’re charging him with enough he won’t get out of jail for a long time.”

“Had he been drinking?”

Wick sighed, “Yeah. He’d just gotten off a double which made his happy hour drinks hit him harder than they usually would. In other news, between me and Clarke we kept your other boyfriend from getting arrested.”

Raven smiled at Wick’s longstanding nickname for Bellamy which she was sure was his intention. “Thank you.”

There was a knock at the door before Octavia peeked in, Meah sitting on her mother’s uniformed hip _(and it was always going to be weird to know wild child Octavia Blake Mahon was a cop)_ , flowers in her other hand.

“Hey,” she greeted. “We’re not staying long but I was dropping off Lincoln and wanted to see how you were doing.”

“I’m doing,” Raven admitted, smiling at the curly haired girl she’d watched grow up. “Hi Meah.”

“Hi Ray.”

Octavia set her daughter down and she immediately waddled over to Wick who picked her up and set her on his knee.

“I told the guys to call before they came over,” she assured them. “Lincoln said you’d probably be sent home in a couple days.”

Raven hadn’t known about that but there were more important things than going home on her mind. “Wick says you guys arrested Murphy.”

Her eyes went hard and it was easy to understand how the willowy beauty could manage to hold her own as a cop. “I told the detectives working the accident it was family and to do what they could to make sure Murphy stayed in prison long enough to get arthritis.”

The tears started up again and if anyone pointed it out Raven was ready to blame it on the pain meds.

Wick squeezed her hand.

“Thank you, O.”

Meah leaned forward on Wick’s lap to tap Raven on the arm, her big brown eyes staring up at her. “Still hurt?”

Raven glanced at Octavia who gave her a small nod. “Yeah, I’m still hurt.”

“Kiss better?” Meah asked with such sincerity Raven’s heart would have had to be made of stone to resist it.

“Please.”

Wick grabbed the little girl around the waist and lifted her up so she could press a kiss on Raven’s leg through the sheets and blankets.

“Better?”

“Much,” Raven assured the little girl, brushing her hand over Meah’s dark curls. “Thank you.”

“Oh and Wick, Murphy isn’t pressing charges against you for the assault from yesterday so you don’t have to worry about that,” Octavia announced as she finished with the flowers.

“Assault?” Raven nearly shouted even as Wick muttered a ‘thanks Octavia’ under his breath.

Octavia just grinned, clearly unrepentant for telling on Wick. “I have to get the little one to daycare before work. If you guys need anything give me a call. Say goodbye to Raven and Wick, Meah.”

She leaned forward suddenly to kiss Raven’s cheek, Wick barely catching her before she fell. Then she turned her head to kiss Wick’s cheek as well. “Bye!”

Raven waited until her visitors had left and the door clicked shut before looking at Wick. “Assault. You assaulted Murphy.”

Wick slouched in his chair, crossing his arms sullenly. “I didn’t assault the son of a bitch. I punched him.”

“You punched him,” she repeated as if she wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly. “Let me see your hands.”

He let out a heavy sigh before he showed her his right hand, cut and bruised. “Kyle, you’re such an idiot! You need this hand.”

“It’s fine,” he insisted.

“You could have broken it.”

“But I didn’t,” he unnecessarily pointed out. “I know how to punch someone, Raven.”

“Apparently.” She brushed her fingers over the injured knuckles, “I can’t believe you punched someone for me.”

“I probably would have done more but there was a cop.”

“You punched him in front of cops?” Her boyfriend was cute, but he was an idiot.

“When else was I going to punch him? They were moving you from recovery to this room so I thought I’d stretch my legs and check in with your squad.”

“My squad?”

“Do you want to hear about me punching someone or not? I was stretching my legs and who do I see walking down the hall with his arm in a cast? When I saw him _walking_ , just walking I got so pissed that before I knew what I was doing I was hitting him.”

“You were pissed he was walking?”

“I was pissed because he was and you aren’t.”

She didn’t think it was completely unreasonable she went gooey at the thought of her boyfriend punching the guy who hit her with his car.

“The cops didn’t arrest you?”

“There was just one, he kind of shoved me back and looked like he didn’t know if he should help Murphy or hold me back. I told him I was friends with Octavia Mahon and my girlfriend was unconscious in a hospital room after getting a piece of glass removed from her leg. He kind of nodded, and then took Murphy back to the ER to get checked out.”

“Thank God he didn’t press charges.”

“Honestly, it would have been worth it.”

“Thank you.”

“For punching him?”

“Yes, because I couldn’t and I’m glad someone did.”

“You didn’t want Bellamy punching him.”

“Bellamy and Murphy have history, Murphy for sure would have pressed charges out of spite.”

“History?”

“Bellamy thought Murphy stole something from us, turned out to be this kid who lived in the next building over. Murphy holds a grudge.”

“Yeah, well. He’s not the only one.”

There was hardness to his voice she didn’t often hear, that kind of brittle anger usually came from Bellamy, but it was oddly comforting to have more than one person in her life get angry, truly angry, on her behalf.

“Those aren’t the same clothes you were wearing yesterday. Did you get some sleep?”

He picked at the blue cotton shirt he wore with a sheepish look on his face. “I had Monty drop by my place, pick up a few things for me including some clothes and my computer.”

“You were here the whole night?” Had he slept on the couch? He was at least two feet longer than it was, there was no way he could have gotten a decent night’s sleep.

“When you woke up from surgery the first time you asked me stay, to be here when you woke up and I agreed.”

“I was high.”

“I wasn’t.”

“Well, I’m awake now so you can head home if you want. You don’t have to stay the whole time I’m here.”

He simply stared at her in the way that told her he thought she was being an idiot and it almost made her feel normal.

“You must have work you need to do.”

“Nothing that can’t wait a day or two.” He paused before clearing his throat, “Unless you want me to leave?”

“No.”

“Okay. Then I’ll hang here. Besides, I’ve heard rumors about jello.”

“You can buy jello at the store.”

“It’s not the same,” he insisted when his phone played the communicator sound from Power Rangers. (" _It’s like getting a message from Zordon” he’d explained when she’d asked him about it, and he’d been grinning like an idiot so she hadn’t had the heart to make fun of him.)_

“Bellamy,” he explained as he typed back a reply. “He wants to know if you’re awake. He swung by your place this morning to get some of your stuff and just got here with Clarke.”

“Send him up. I hope he brought my computer.”

“And the charger for it and your phone. Your boyfriend and I have you covered.”

His phone beeped again but this time his brow furrowed and he muttered something under his breath as he responded to the text.

“Bellamy again?”

“Uh. No. Something else. I’ll be right back.”

“Is everything okay?”

“You’re going to be fine and I’m not getting arrested,” he told her. “Everything’s great. Are you good on your own till Bellamy gets here?”

Raven nodded and accepted Wick’s distracted kiss before he left room and she gave herself a few moment of distraction wondering what was going on with him before facing the one thing she really didn’t want to face.

She remembered some of what the doctor had said while she’d been groggy in recovery. She’d walk with a limp, there would be pain off and on throughout her life, and even though there was some limitations she was, overall, okay.

There were things she’d have to do, move out of her apartment and find a new place to live for one. Use all the money she’d been saving to pay off the medical bills she was certain were arriving at her apartment even now. There would be depositions with detectives, lawyers, and court appearances if Murphy didn’t decide to plead guilty to whatever charges Octavia and her friends in blue had decided to press against him.

Her life had changed and she couldn’t remember ever being so angry because her life had been good, she’d been happy and in the course of the past 24 hours her life had irrevocably shifted.

Most of that was on Murphy, but some of it was on the man who just left her room with a vague excuse and the wave of a hand.

“Feeling sorry for yourself yet?”

Raven swiped at the tears forming in the corner of her eyes, grateful for Bellamy’s sarcasm as he and Clarke walked in. “I’m getting there.”

He held a duffel bag in his hand, Clarke held a laptop and for some reason Raven couldn’t quite name she was glad they hadn’t brought flowers.

“Thank you, I’ve been awake less than an hour and I’m already bored.”

“Where’s Wick?” Clarke asked as she set the computer on the tray near Raven’s bed.

“He got a text and stepped out,” Raven explained with a shrug before turning to face Clarke. “How are you doing? Are you okay?”

“Nothing’s wrong that’s worth complaining about,” Clarke assured her. “Lincoln stitched up a cut or two, but other than that I’m mostly juist sore.”

“Are you taking care of her?” Raven asked, putting on her most intimidating expression when she looked at Bellamy.

“As much as she’s letting me,” he promised. “She stayed at my place last night.”

“Shit,” Raven swore. “I’m sorry I didn’t even think. Are you having nightmares again?”

“Yes,” Clarke admitted and Raven knew how long it had taken Clarke to admit that without embarrassment or shame. “But it helped staying with Bellamy and I’ve got an appointment with my shrink later this week so I’m taking care of myself.”

Raven nodded as Bellamy raised a hand to encircle the back of Clarke’s neck, and there was no ignoring the way Clarke leaned gratefully into the touch.

“I’m going to start out with I’m sorry,” Wick announced as he barged back into the room looking slightly out of breath. “I didn’t realize she was going to do this but once she decided to there was absolutely no stopping her.”

He paused and seemed to reconsider. “Okay, there may been some way of stopping her, but I’m a little terrified of her so I didn’t try.”

“What are you talking about?” Raven asked even as a woman, probably a little past middle aged, came walking into the room with an overly large purse and a vase of sunflowers in her hands.

“You must be Kyle’s Raven. I’m his mom, Alana. It’s so nice to finally meet you but I’m sorry it has to be under such terrible circumstances.” She paused as if something had just occurred to, “I hope my barging in and seeming like an overbearing in law doesn’t change your mind about marrying him.”


	3. I'm Waking up to What is True

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So it turns out Wick proposed to Raven, Bellamy's a little insulted Raven told Clarke instead of him, and Wick's mom decides whether or not Raven gets her approval

All Raven heard after that was dead silence in the room before Wick sent her wry smile. “She hasn’t said yes yet, Mom.”

“That’s okay,” the woman assured the room before she turned eyes- _fuck, they were Kyle’s eyes_ -on her. “It took Kyle’s dad a while to get used to the idea of marriage but I didn’t mind waiting for him to get there.”

Raven stared at the woman as the words clicked and she turned on Kyle. “You told her?”

His shrug was unapologetic and she wanted to him. “Whose ring did you think I proposed to you with?”

“Oh my god, Mrs. Wick-“

“Call me Alana.”

“Wick proposed to you and you didn’t tell me?” Bellamy cut in and Raven resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the hurt in his voice.

“It happened the yesterday morning, before the accident,” Wick explained but Bellamy barely seemed to have heard the other man as he turned his head to look at Clarke before swinging back to look at Raven with an accusation on his face.

“You told Clarke, didn’t you? You told Clarke but you didn’t tell me. That’s why you were in the car together.”

“You like Wick,” Raven started before realizing it sounded like an accusation.

“Of course he likes me. Wait,” he met Clarke’s eyes across Raven’s bed. “Do you not like me?”

Clarke looked briefly confused by the quick volley of words. “No. I mean, yes. I like you Wick. She just needed a female’s perspective.”

“I thought that’s what Bellamy was for.”

“Fuck you.”

Wick grinned, “Fuck you.” Then they all seemed to remember Wick’s mother was still in the room, setting a collection of sunflowers on the bedside table, and looked guilty.

“Sorry Mom.”

“Like I haven’t heard you curse before.” She turned back to Raven and settled next to her on the bed before she laid a warm hand on Raven’s arm, “How are you doing?”

Raven stared at her warm, slightly wrinkled hand before forcing herself to meet the older woman’s eyes. “I’m doing okay. According to the doctors it’s going to be a long road.”

“I hope they caught the bastard who did this.”

From behind Alana, Raven saw Wick’s lips quirk at his mother’s cursing before he filled his mother in. “They did, the cops arrested the guy who hit them after he was medically released. Again.”

Raven snorted at Wick’s overly angelic face, his hands safely tucked in his pocket to hide the scrapes on his knuckles.

“He was hurt?”

“Broken arm and a possible broken nose,” Wick supplied helpfully and out of the corner of her eye Raven saw Bellamy shake his head so Octavia must have told him about the fight.

“Deserves worse than a broken arm if you ask me.”

“Agreed,” Bellamy muttered.

Alana looked up and seemed to notice the other two people in the room for the first time. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I just barreled in here without even meeting everyone.”

“This is Bellamy Blake and Clarke Griffin, they’re Raven’s friends.”

Raven looked at Wick, surprised at the specification they were _her_ friends instead of their friends.

“It’s nice to meet you both. I’ll get out of your hair, I just wanted to give you these,” Alana gestured to the vase. “And this.”

Emotion caught Raven by surprise as Wick’s mom reached into her purse and pulled out a large stuffed shark before setting it on Raven’s lap.

“People in hospitals get stuffed animals,” Wick explained with a knowing smile at Raven’s shock. “It’s Wick law.”

“It’s true,” Alana confirmed. “I know the last thing you want to think about when you’re healing is cooking so I’m going to send some food along with Kyle, and if you need anything you just tell him to let me know.”

“Thank you Mrs. Wick.”

“Call me Alana,” she ordered with a soft smile. “And I hope to see you again soon. It was nice to meet you all. Kyle, walk me out?”

Wick started to follow his mother but stopped and turned to the others in the room. “That sounded like a request, but it wasn’t actually a request. I’ll be right back.”

Bending at the waist he kissed Raven before following his mother out of the room.

“Well, that went better than when I met Clarke’s mom,” Bellamy commented.

“And better than the first time I met Octavia,” Clarke added.

Raven nodded and couldn’t help but pet the soft fuzz covering the toy shark, she couldn’t remember anyone ever giving her a stuffed animal before.

##############################

Wick leaned against one side of the elevator and looked down at his overly innocent looking parent. “You cornered her, Mom.”

She shrugged but didn’t apologize as the lights above the elevator doors counted down floors. “The way you talked about her I thought if we met the usual way she might talk herself out of it, or over think it and I wanted to meet the girl you were planning on spending the rest of your life with.”

“And?”

“I like her,” she answered immediately as the elevator chimed and the doors slid open. “She’s definitely wary but beautiful and tough.”

Wick smiled at the assessment and while he completely agreed he felt it necessary to point out, “You talked to her for all of three minutes.”

“You’ve been talking about that girl for going on eight years,” she reminded him with a kind of exasperated, amused smile. “Not to mention I’m a good judge of character.”

“So you approve.”

“I approve.”

They walked down the hallway towards the exit and Wick said the thing he’d been thinking since he’d met Raven. “I think Dad would have liked her.”

Alana smiled widely and laughed, “He would have loved her. They would have arm wrestled at the kitchen table and argued about which brand of cars run better. Neither you or I would have gotten a word in edgewise for the first three years. Have you been to see your father lately?”

“Yeah,” the sliding doors swished open and he and his mom stepped into the afternoon sunlight. “I went by after you gave me the ring and took flowers. Figured it was only right to let him know what was going on.”

His mom stopped on the sidewalk and he could see her getting emotional. “He would be so proud of the man you grew up to be, Kyle. Of the woman you chose to love and life you lead. I’m so proud of you.”

Wick wrapped his arms around his mom’s shoulders, “I couldn’t have done it without you guys.”


	4. I'm Holding on to Me and You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wick has a solution to the unanswered proposal as he helps Raven leave the hospital before he takes her to Bellamy's house to recover. There, Wick learns the truth about Clarke's nightmares

After three days in the hospital of being poked, prodded, and made certain she wasn’t going to get an infection or had worse injuries, Raven was grateful to finally be set free.

Clarke had brought by shorts and some slip on flats so Raven didn’t have to try and get jeans on over the knee brace or tie her shoes and she briefly thanked whatever gods might be listening she and Clarke had gotten in the accident in late summer instead of winter.

Glancing around the room to make sure she’d packed everything she heard the door open and looked over to see Wick pushing a wheelchair into the room.

“All right Reyes, I’m here to bust you out.”

Shifting on her crutches she glanced at the female nurse who had followed Wick into the room.  “Is it still busting me out if I’ve been medically released and a nurse is accompanying you?”

“Absolutely.”

His eyes fell on the brace wrapped around her knee, preventing her from bending it, which allowed her leg to heal properly. Or so the doctors had explained. “I have to keep it on for at least two weeks.”

Instead of commenting he walked towards her before bending at the knees, getting so close his nose was practically pressed against the plastic. It was the nurse’s confused expression which reminded Raven this was not a normal practice by boyfriends picking up their girlfriends from the hospital.

“I think I can make a better one.”

The nurse looked panicked, “This is what the doctor approved-“

“He’s an engineer,” Raven explained with a slight wave of her hand. “His favorite past time is taking things apart and redesigning them to supposedly make them better.”

Wick looked up, part exasperated and part amused. “Supposedly?”

She smiled down at him. “I love you, but making things different doesn’t mean the same thing as making it better.”

“You break my heart,” he shook his head sadly but the bright laughter in his eyes betrayed before he turned back towards the door. “I’m just going to leave you here and you can call your other boyfriend to come get you.”

Again, Raven felt the need to explain to the confused nurse. “He’s joking.”

“Sure I am.” He grabbed the wheelchair and brought it close enough Raven could lower herself into the seat. “I can’t let Bellamy pick you up and take you home, that would make him the better boyfriend and I just recently took the lead. I’m not about to give it up again.”

He slung her backpack over his shoulder, Clarke had picked up the flowers when she’d dropped off the clothes earlier that morning so there was nothing left to do but leave.

And why did the flutter in her chest feel like panic?

“She’s already all signed out and discharged so unless you need my help out to your vehicle.”

Wicked waved away the nurse’s offer. “We’ve got this under control, but thank you.”

The nurse nodded, reminded Raven to call the numbers on her discharge papers if she had any questions or concerns and just like that Wick was wheeling towards the elevator and the flutter intensified and Raven had to admit the reason she was so worried was because since Alana had come by Wick hadn’t mentioned the proposal she still technically hadn’t answered.

Bellamy had tried to start a conversation, Clarke had brought it up casually and let it go when it was clear Raven didn’t want to talk about it, but Wick had been mute on the subject and the only way to get rid of the fear of when he would bring it up would be to bring it up herself.

“Kyle, about before…”

“Before?” he asked as he pushed the down button for the elevator.

Raven sighed, “The proposal.”

“Oh, yeah.” The elevator’s door opened and he pushed her inside, “Don’t worry about it.”

She attempted to turn her head so she could see him and he looked…relaxed? She’d almost say chill except that was more Jasper than she really wanted to be. “Don’t worry about it?”

“Yeah, you can just propose to me next time.”

And he sounded so nonchalant about it she wondered if he was trying to be casual to hide what she was certain had to be hurt feelings. “Oh I can?”

“Yeah. But I got to warn you, I’m going to want you to put some effort into it. Roses, candles, depending on how soon you do it you might not be able to do the down on one knee thing but that’s okay because I’m pretty sure it came from dudes being knighted so it’s not really appropriate anyway.”

The door opened and Wick pushed her out of the elevator and towards exit.

“You proposed to me after we had sex,” she pointed out, amused as he turned a corner and made screeching noises as if they were drifting. “Also, stop spending so much time with Bellamy.”

“Bellamy’s cool,” Wick defended. “And if I’d done the whole romantic thing you’d have thrown a wrench at me which isn’t exactly a good story to tell the kids.”

“Kids,” she repeated as they left the hospital and, oh wow it felt good to have the sunlight on her face again.

“Yeah. If you want. Or a dog. I’m not sure a dog will appreciate the story, but who knows how much they really understand? Bellamy’s got this thing where he’s trying to convince me cats are better because they’re more self-sufficient but you really can’t beat playing fetch with a dog in the backyard.”

“You’re really okay with this?” she asked as they stopped in front of his beat up truck which had more geek decals on the back window than she cared to count.

“With you proposing to me? Of course, I’m a modern guy.”

Raven put a hand on Wick’s arm when he reached for the door handle. “Kyle.”

He bent at the knees, presumably so he could meet her eyes. “Raven, I’m okay with it because I’m in love with you. Like stupid, grin all the time for no reason in love with you.”

“You grin all the time anyway.”

His smile was sweet and warm and reminded her of elephant ears at the fairground. “Babe, to be fair, you’ve never known me when I wasn’t in love with you so you don’t really have much of a point of reference.”

“Shit. Kyle-“

“Hey, it’s not on you.” He covered her hand with his and kept his gaze steady on her. “It was never on you. I fell in love with you because you were you, and you can’t help being you.” He paused, scrunched up his face. “Did that make sense? I thought it made sense but I said it out loud and then it sounded like Klingon.”

“The fact you actually know Klingon makes that scenario entirely possible but don’t worry, it made sense.”

“Good,” he gave her a friendly smack on the lips. “And if you decide you don’t want to get married we’ll find some kind of compromise that makes us both happy. But I’m still going to want the dog, the dog is kind of non-neogtiable.”

“I think dogs are way better than cats.”

He opened the door with a laugh and threw the crutches she’d held on her lap into the bed of the truck. “I knew there was a reason I loved you.”

“Your mom got me a stuffed animal.”

He grinned as he cupped Raven’s elbow with his hands, helping her to stand without putting any weight on her bad leg. “She did.”

“It’s a shark.”

Wick huffed out a laugh as he helped maneuver her onto the bench seat of his truck. “Well, sharks are your favorite animal aren’t they?”

“But how did she know that?” she asked him as she settled into the seat.

He leaned against the open door, “Because I told her. Honestly, I talk about you a lot so she probably knows as much about you as I do.”

She didn’t want to think what that comprised of, did it include her disaster of a mom? Finn?

God, Alana must think her son had fallen in love with a mess.

“Did you like the shark?”

“Yes. Tell her thank you for me?”

He nodded and moved to push himself away from the truck but she said his name before he could.

“I love you.”

Reaching out, he squeezed her hand and impulsively kissed it. “I love you too.”

##############################

“Yo! I got a delivery here for Bellamy Blake!”

Bellamy all but sauntered out of the kitchen with a beer and took one look at Wick holding an amused and slightly embarrassed Raven his living room and shook his head. “I didn’t order that.”

“Sorry, no return policy. Where do you want me to put her?”

“I’m literally right here, guys.”

Wick looked down at her, “Are you tired? Do you want to stay up for a bit?”

“What I am is starving.”

“Food it is,” Wick declared, setting her down on the couch carefully and then piling pillows beneath her bad leg to keep it elevated-which was one of the things the doctor said she should do in the first couple of days at home.

He had a list on his phone.

“Want a beer?” Bellamy offered from behind the couch.

“Please,” Wick accepted gratefully as he set Raven’s bag on the floor next to her.

“I want one,” Raven called to their backs.

“You’re on pain killers Ray, no alcohol for you,” Bellamy called back. “I’ll bring you some water.”

“I hate you!”

Wick followed Bellamy into the kitchen and accepted the long neck and took a drink before asking, “How’s Clarke doing?”

“She’s asleep in my room.”

There was a tone in his voice which made Wick think it wasn’t just because she’d accidentally fallen asleep. “Flashbacks?”

Raven had mentioned Clarke was having trouble after the accident and he hadn’t pressed at the time but he was wondering if was something serious.

Bellamy sighed heavily. “Yeah. She went up to take a nap about three because she slept like crap last night. I stayed in bed with her last night until she fell asleep but she still had nightmares. I should probably go check on her in an hour if she doesn’t come down before then. Octavia will probably be here before long with Meah to keep the girls distracted.”

“You’re going to be swamped with women.”

“Story of my life,” he smirked, leaning against the counter looking vaguely like a GUESS ad. “So you proposed huh?”

Wick grinned, he couldn’t help it. “Yeah.”

“And she said no.”

With a shake of his head Wick took another drink of his beer. “No, she didn’t say no. She punched me.”

Bellamy laughed and glanced at his phone on the counter when it beeped. “She punched you?”

Wick touched his shoulder to indicate where his girlfriend had hit him.

“I think it was reflex,” he mused. “I am so gone over her, it’s stupid.”

“She’s lucky to have you.”

Fiddling with the label on his beer, Wick nodded. “I know after Finn-“

Bellamy shook his head, “No, not what I meant. I mean she’s lucky to have you, period.”

“Thanks.” He shifted on his feet, “Can I ask you what happened to her over there? With Clarke, I mean. Raven gave me the broad strokes but I didn’t want to press and I didn’t want to trigger…Is that the right word? I didn’t want to trigger Clarke by asking her.”

“It’s not a secret or anything, but she’s not a big fan of talking about it,” Bellamy assured him. “She’d gone overseas to this war torn town with her attendee to finish her residency. While she was there she met Finn, she found out about Raven after they’d been together a couple of weeks so she broke it off. A few days after that the camp they were working out of was hit by some rebels, Finn was injured.”

“Clarke was the one who worked on him, right?”

“Yeah. Her attendee was there and told Clarke to call it but she didn’t want to be the one to give up on him. He was a dick but she cared about him and this asshole doctor was determined to teach Clarke how to be removed from her patients, to not care so much, so she walked out. She forced Clarke to call time of death on someone who had once kissed her.”

“Fuck.”

“My thoughts exactly. She’s got PTSD from the whole thing, from the attack and losing a friend and watching kids die because they didn’t have enough medicine. It’s why she became a general practioner instead of a surgeon. She just couldn’t handle the blood. She sees a shrink but she still has trouble trusting, and I think she’s got this sort of complex. A ‘if I care about someone they’ll die’ sort of thing. Her dad, her friend Wells, Finn.”

“So that’s why you guys aren’t together?”

Bellamy’s gaze slid over to study him and Wick refused to squirm under the scrutiny. “I’ve got eyes. You’re waiting for her.”

“I think a part of her is trying to protect me.” He shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, “She’s worth waiting for.”

“Yeah?”

There was a wry, half grin on his face. “I’m so gone over her, it’s stupid.”

Wick grinned and raised his beer in a toast, “I’ll drink to that.”

They tapped their bottles together as the sound of the front door opening and closing reached their ears.

“Bell!”

“And the swarm begins.”

Wick put down what was left of his beer and made sure his phone was still in his pocket. “I’ll get out of your hair.”

Bellamy gave him a weird look Wick might have been able to decipher if they knew each other just a little bit better. “You’re welcome to hang out if you want. We’ll probably order food if you want in.”

“Yeah? Okay, sure.”

“But if my niece starts liking you more than me, you’re out.”

Wick laughed. “It happens all the time. It’s my stunning good looks and charm, don’t feel bad if you can’t measure up.”

Bellamy rolled his eyes and made his way to the living room where Wick could almost immediately hear Meah’s shrieks and giggles.

Following the sounds he saw Raven had moved her leg so it rested on the coffee table and since he saw Clarke was apparently awake and sitting next to her he looked around the room to find someplace else to sit. Feeling awkward and out of place because he didn’t really fit he thought one again about making his excuses and leaving.

It’s not like he didn’t have work to do, while he’d been able to get some designing done at the hospital he was at least a day behind with some of his deadlines.

“Ow! Why are you shoving me?” Clarke asked and Wick looked over to see Raven pushing on Clarke’s shoulder.

“Move. I want my boyfriend to sit next to me. Bellamy, make her move.”

Clarke put her hands up when Bellamy started walking towards her, with seemingly every intention of picking her up and bodily moving her. “All right, I’ll move.”

Raven smiled at Wick when Clarke scooted to the far end of the couch and he walked across the room to settle next to her when she patted the cushion next to her. Almost immediately she took his hand and squeezed it once before she started yelling at Bellamy to order some damn food already.


	5. Everything is Changing, Changing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wick starts to realize if he wants a future with Raven he might have to change what he'd always imagined his future to be, and the reality of Raven's injuries makes her wonder if Wick would take back his proposal if he knew the woman he'd asked to marry him would never walk the same again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am posting this very late, and I need to be up for work in...oh, three hours, so I apologize if there's any grammar or spelling errors but I wanted to put this up before I went to sleep

Lincoln had shown up not long after Monty and Miller with enough Italian food to feed a small army and everyone threw a handful of bills at him as plates, utensils, and containers were passed around. Wick was always kind of amazed at how they seemed to carry on five conversations at once without ever losing track of who was saying what.

Raven was tucked under his arm, leaning against him as Monty sat in the arm chair where his boyfriend sat on the floor at Monty’s feet. Clarke sat on Wick’s other side and Bellamy had settled on an old ottoman at her elbow.

Lincoln, Octavia and Meah sat around the coffee table and Wick ignored the little ache he could feel in his chest at the sight of the happy family communicating with touches, whispers and quiet looks.

“You’re kidding,” Octavia was saying as she handed her daughter’s sippy cup to her while she sat on her father’s lap.

“No one else calls me Wick,” he confirmed, still not quite sure how they’d gotten on the topic.

“What?” Clarke asked, looking so confused by the statement Wick couldn’t help but laugh.

“Raven calls me Wick so I guess that’s why you guys do too.”

“Raven called you Wick,” Monty corrected. “She doesn’t call you Wick as much since you guys got together.”

“Why didn’t you just call him by his first name?” Bellamy asked as he scooped up more pasta onto his plate.

She shrugged but grinned at Wick, “At first, mostly to irritate him.”

“You guys should have seen them, they were throwing rocks and pulling pigtails.”

“It was not that bad,” Raven argued around a bite of pasta, sending her most intimidating glare towards Monty. There was something really wrong with him, Wick thought, that he found that hard look immeasurably sexy.

“You forget I was in most of the same classes with you,” Monty argued. “The thirst was real.”

“If we’re going to talk about thirst then we should talk about how long it took you and your boyfriend to get together.”

Miller came to his boyfriend’s defense by throwing a piece of bread at Raven face, which she promptly picked up and happily ate.

“Pulling Raven’s pigtails was one of my favorite pastimes,” Wick defended, tugging on her ponytail as if to prove his point. “And she didn’t throw rocks, but she did throw bolts at me.”

“That was one time.”

“I still have the scar,” Wick teased as he rubbed the skin just behind his ear.

“Your head is way too hard for you to have even felt it much less to have left a scar,” Raven argued.

An argument broke out from there about who had the harder head, Octavia or Bellamy, with Clarke and Octavia insisting Bellamy’s was harder while Lincoln and Bellamy swore it was Octavia’s.

Wick listened on, not really having an opinion on the matter, and the followed the conversation as it shifted and wiggled until they were talking about how Jasper had adopted a ferret the day before and named him Boba Ferret.

He looked down when Raven poked him in the side, “They’re talking about Star Wars and you don’t have an opinion?”

His smile was half-hearted and he couldn’t find the energy to put more effort into it, “Guess I’m just tired. I think I’m going to head out.”

She looked concerned, and not entirely convinced, but nodded anyway. “Okay, I’ll walk you out.”

“No, stay put. You need to rest more than I do.”

The rest of the group seemed to realize he was planning to head out and murmured their goodbyes while Lincoln grabbed his daughter and stood her up. “Say goodbye to Wick.”

She waddled towards him and held out her arms when Wick stood up and smiled as he reached down to set her briefly on his hips. “Don’t grow any more until I see you again, okay?”

“Okay!” she agreed happily, kissing him on the cheek. “Bye!”

“Bye sweetheart,” he kissed her forehead and set her back down before leaning over and kissing Raven and intending to pull away but she grabbed his shirt and met his eyes with a steady stare.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll talk to you later,” he kissed her again. “I love you.”

“Love you too,” she murmured and he waved at the others as he walked out, feeling Raven’s eyes on his back as he left.

The truth, while he was tired after spending the last couple of days with Raven at the hospital, was the moment had felt too _right._

Climbing into his truck he let it run for a minute as he reined in his thoughts.

Spending an evening with Raven tucked under his arm while friends laughed and shared food while a movie no one was paying attention to played in the background. This was the kind of life he imagined for himself, and for Raven.

And if maybe if in his daydreams the little girl on his hip had Raven’s dark skin and his eyes who could blame him?

He wanted that, but if Raven didn’t. If she decided she didn’t want kids and didn’t want to get married?

What was he willing to give up to keep her in his life?”

 _Everything¸_ a traitorous little voice whispered.

To get the chance to love her for the rest of his life, to be able to laugh with her and argue with her he’d give the ring back to his mother and stop thinking about baby names.

There were some things, he’d realized, a man was willing to give up in order to keep what was most important and to Wick the list of things he’d sacrifice for began and ended with Raven’s name.

That’s just the way it was.

 ##############################

“Okay, now that he’s gone, I have to ask. How did he propose?”

“Why did you wait till he left?” Raven asked Monty as she took a drink of her soda. “He’d have loved to tell the story.”

“We didn’t want to ask in front of him in case you were going to be a jerk about it,” Octavia offered helpfully.

Raven grumbled but couldn’t discount past-her might have totally done that, but she liked to think she’d grown enough in the past few years to have been sensitive to Wick’s feelings.

“I’m not sure what kind of story you guys are hoping for but we were in bed at his place and he reached into the side table, grabbed the ring box and asked me to marry him.”

“What did he say,” Monty emphasized heavily while Miller just smiled affectionately at his boyfriend.

“Something along the lines of ‘will you make an honest man out of me.’”

Everyone in the room busted out laughing, even Meah though she likely had no idea what was going on, and Raven couldn’t help but smile because she remembered being both exasperated and endeared by the proposal.

“Is that when you punched him?” Bellamy asked.

“I didn’t-“ Raven began to argue before cutting herself off with a huff. “He told you I punched him?”

“He said it was a reflex,” Bellamy informed her with a grin. “He’s so damn smitten with you it’s hilarious.”

“I would imagine that’s why he proposed,” Lincoln added wryly.

“You should say yes.” All eyes swung to Miller who kept his steady gaze on Raven. “If he makes you happy, if he makes you feel safe, you should say yes.”

“This isn’t up for public debate,” Raven announced to the room suddenly desperately uncomfortable with the subject. “And you know what, it’s getting late and it’s been a long day. I’m going to head to bed.”

She moved to get up but sighed when she remembered she couldn’t just walk out of the room. The sudden threat of tears was both embarrassing and frustrating because she couldn’t name why she suddenly wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. “Will someone hand me my crutches?”

Clarke grabbed the crutches and waited till Raven had stood up and she must have noticed the threatening tears. “I’ll come with you in case you need help.”

Raven was about to argue but decided it wasn’t worth the effort and not entirely sure what Bellamy’s guest room looked like, she might actually need help.

“Thanks.”

Raven hobbled out of the room and towards the guest room, flicking on the light switch and flopped onto the bed as soon as she could, swiping away the threatening tears.

“I don’t even know why I’m crying,” she muttered angrily.

Clarke settled next to her on the bed but didn’t touch her and Raven appreciated it. She was pretty sure the damn would break if she was touched right now. “Maybe because you’re life has irrevocably been changed and now that you’re out of the hospital you’re having to deal with the day to day consequences of that. Not to mention you’re probably tired and a little loopy with the pain killers.”

“Octavia said Murphy would stay in jail till he got arthritis.”

“Yeah.”

“Good.” She took a deep breath, thought the tears might be under control enough to be be able to look at Clarke. “Did you hear him when he left? What he said?”

“Wick? He said ‘I love you,’ didn’t he?”

“He’s the only person who has ever said that to me, every time they leave. It took some getting used to but now I can’t imagine not having that in my life.”

“You love him.”

“Like nothing else.”

Clarke turned around and shut the bedroom door before facing Raven once again. “Not even Finn?”

“I loved Finn,” Raven sank onto the side of the bed and rested her crutches where they’d be easy to reach in the morning. “But it was the love you have for someone who is part of your family. I thought it was more, bigger, because I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Now I know and I don’t want to lose him Clarke.”

“Why would you think you’d lose him?”

“He didn’t propose to me like this.”

“Like what?”

Raven made a frustrated sound and gestured to her knee, “Like this.”

“It doesn’t matter to him,” Clarke told her firmly. “When you love someone it doesn’t matter what scars they have. You still love them.”

“Kyle isn’t Bellamy.”

“Yes,” Clarke argued with a fond smile. “He is. Well, Wick is much friendlier and affable than Bellamy is, but at their core? They’re the kind of guys who stand by you no matter what. Just like we’re the kind of girls who’d stand by them no matter what. I mean, if Wick was hurt you wouldn’t walk away would you?”

“No, but-“

“But nothing. We all love you Raven, those idiots out there, Jasper and his damn ferret, Bellamy, me, Wick. We’re not going to stop just because you’re a little more banged up now than you were before.”

“It’s easy to say, it’s easy to hear.”

“But it’s hard to believe,” Clarke finished softly. “I know how that is. Get some sleep, Ray. It won’t seem so bad in the morning.”

Raven nodded and Clarke stood up, stopping at the door. “Do you need help changing?”

With a glanced down at her clothes, she’d worn soft cotton shorts that morning, and decided she didn’t want to bother with changing. “No. I’m good. Thanks, though.”

“No problem. Call me if you need anything and Bellamy’s going to keep his phone on in case you need anything during the night.”

“Are you going to be here?”

“Yeah. Probably.”

“Are you doing okay?”

“I’ve got Bellamy,” Clarke admitted with a little smile. “So I’m doing better than I would be otherwise. My mom’s coming over tomorrow for breakfast, so head’s up.”

“Thanks. Night Clarke.”

“Night,” Clarke turned off the lights and shut the door behind her and after lying in bed for ten minutes, waiting for the pain killers she’d taken to kick in and sleep to come she finally gave up and reached for her phone.

“Miss me already?” Wick asked when he answered her call.

“Yes.”

There was a moment of stunned silence before she could all but hear him smile. “I miss you too. Are you in bed?”

“I’m not having phone sex with you.”

Wick laughed, “Fair enough but I was actually making sure you were going to get some rest. You didn’t sleep very well at the hospital.”

“Neither did you,” she pointed out as she snuggled deeper into the pillows. “But I assume you plan on working instead of sleeping.”

“Just for a bit longer,” he admitted.

She wanted him there with her so she could curl around him and rest her head on his heartbeat, listen to him read out loud and fall asleep to the sound but she bit her tongue so she didn’t say it out loud. “Call me when you wake up?”

“Of course.”

“I love you.”

There was a moment of silence, just a split second, because she knew he was all to used to him having to say those words first.

“I love you to Raven. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” she repeated like a promise. “Night, Kyle.”

“Night, babe.”


	6. Life is Fast, and Life is Sweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After talking to his Mom, Wick decides there's only way to figure things out between him and Raven.
> 
> So he goes over to Bellamy's house to pick a fight with the love of his life, even though he’s terrified it might mean losing Raven for good.

Wick looked away from his laptop where he was trying to work on a new project in his downtown office and glanced at his phone suspiciously.

For the past few days Raven had been distant. Sure they texted and called, but only when he initiated them. He’d gone over to Bellamy’s to have lunch with her one day and dinner another but there was something out of sync between them which had led to him picking up his phone multiple times a day wondering whether or not he _should_ call her, or if maybe he should text instead.

It reminded him eerily of their relationship, if it could have been called that, after they’d first slept together when she’d been hard to pin down both physically and emotionally.

He could distinctly remember the feeling of not knowing where her head or her heart was, of not knowing where he stood with her. Which had sucked because even when they’d been stumbling along he’d known what he’d wanted from her.

_Forever._

Like a damn sap, he wanted forever. He wanted to belong to her, to mix his stuff with hers until they could no longer remember whose it had originally been but he was no longer certain that’s what she wanted as well.

A part of him had thought maybe she did, which was why he had been stupid enough to propose in the first place. But, like when he’d confronted her about their relationship, he thought maybe she just needed time.

Honestly, he’d thought they were past keeping each other at arm’s length and he was more than a little pissed off they seemed to regressed to the “where do I stand” part of their relationship.

Making a sound of frustration he picked up his phone, but instead of calling Raven he called the one woman with whom he always knew where he stood.

“Mom, I need your help.”

“Well, you’re on speaker phone at work so be careful what you say.”

Kyle rolled his eyes and pictured his mom in the kitchen at the bakery she owned, elbow deep in dough or flour. One of her bakers must have answered the phone for her and turned the speaker on. “It’s about Raven.”

She paused and because she was his mom she immediately understood this was not a speaker phone conversation and not one which could be put off.

“Give me a minute to clean my hands,” she told him. “Harper’s here if you want to talk to her.”

He made small talk for a few minutes with his mom’s newest baker, a smart girl with a wicked a grin and a record which was nothing new at his mom’s bakery where more than half the employees were ex-cons making a go at a second chance.

Wick always worried about her in the back of his mind, but was a smart enough man not to mention that to her and risk getting a lecture on how she could take care of herself before she told him exactly what he could do with concern.

Anatomically it was impossible, but that would hardly stop Alana Wick from suggesting it.

“Okay, I’m back and I’m in my office,” he heard her say. “Talk to me.”

“I don’t know why I’m calling you,” he admitted. “I’m not even sure what’s wrong.”

“But something is wrong.”

“Something is off,” he corrected because as an engineer who was in love with a mechanic the difference was subtle but important. “And I’m not sure what to do about it.”

“Is it because you proposed?”

“I knew it was a risk asking her to marry me,” he admitted as he looked at the picture of Raven he’d tacked up on his wall. They’d gone on a spontaneous road trip to the beach, all hot air and white beaches and he’d taken the picture of her sitting on the hood of his truck, hair back, aviators on, and he’d been pretty sure at the moment no one on Earth had ever been so beautiful.

They’d gotten in an argument a week later on how much commitment was involved in leaving a toothbrush at each other’s house.

“But I figured she’d break say yes after taking a few days to think about it. What I didn’t think she’d do was start pulling away so slowly I don’t know if I’m coming or going.”

“Why did you think she would say yes?”

“Because we love each other.”

“Lots of people love each other, Kyle. It doesn’t always mean they’re ready to get married.”

“We make plans,” he answered after a long pause. “We talk about next Christmas, and next year, and we’ve discussed hypothetical scenarios of what would happen if one of us got a job opportunity in another city or another state.”

“And?”

“And we both agreed where there was opportunity for one of us there’d be an opportunity for both of us.”

“Then it doesn’t sound like her pulling back has anything to do with you proposing.”

“What else would it be about,” he asked testily.

“I don’t know, Kyle. She’s your girlfriend, you’d know better than I would,” she informed him, a hint of exasperation behind her words. “You do realize, sweetheart, this conversation would be a lot more efficient if you had it with the woman in question.”

“I don’t want to fight with her,” he grumbled.

“If I remember correctly, you had a fine time fighting with her in the past. I can’t remember how many times you came over for dinner and spent ten minutes grinning about how you two argued after class at the top of your lungs.”

Wick opened his mouth to explain it hadn’t been arguing so much as it had been foreplay but while he had a good relationship with his mom, he wasn’t about to go there.

“Those arguments were for fun,” Wick explained. “I don’t want to fight with her for real.”

Alana huffed out a sigh which Wick recognized as annoyance. “Exactly what did you think you were signing up for when you asked her to marry you? A life of roses on the bed and sex in the shower?”

“Mom.”

She ignored his scold. “Marriage is uncomfortable, Kyle. It’s difficult and there’s a lot of not-fun parts and having conversations like these is part of it. If you want to have a successful marriage, with all the fun parts, you have to do the hard stuff too.”

“I very much doubt you and Dad had to have conversations about whether you wanted to get married or break up.”

“You’d be surprised.”

He pulled the phone away stared at for a second because he was surprised. Growing up he’d heard the jokes about how his mother had hinted and maneuvered his father into a proposal but it had all seemed like the build up to a punch line.

It never occurred to him there was a chance his parents might never have gotten married.

“What do you mean?” he asked, holding the phone back to his ear.

“It’s a story for another time,” she promised. “Right now you need to go have a conversation with that girl of yours and get on the same page. I want her around for a good long time, whether or not she’s my daughter-in-law, so don’t mess it up.”

“Being an adult sucks.”

His mom laughed, big and rich enough to make him smile. “I know sweetheart. But having sex does make up for the rest of it.”

“I’m hanging up now. Thanks, Mom.”

“Anytime, Kyle. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Wick hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair. Raven would be at Bellamy’s right now, but then so would Bellamy and if he had to fight with Raven he didn’t want anyone within hearing distance.

And with the way he and Raven fought, that easily could be anyone on Bellamy’s property.

He pulled open his contacts and started to scroll through his contacts, prepared to offer anything for the favor of getting Bellamy out of the house for an afternoon.

He smiled when he saw the one person he knew he could count. “Hey,” he greeted when the person on the other end answered. “I need a favor.”

##############################

Wick let himself into the house, nearly running into Clarke who was clearly trying to drag Bellamy out of the house.

“We’re leaving,” Clarke promised Wick with a sort of giddy, amused smile which he’d seen in pictures but couldn’t remember seeing in person. He wondered if it was because he’d asked her to please give him some time alone with, or if it was because Bellamy harried and irritable as if he was a kid being dragged to the dentist. “We’ll stay out of your hair for a few hours so don’t worry about time.”

“Explain to me again why you’re kicking me out of my own house,” Bellamy demanded even as Clarke pulled him towards the door.

“Because Wick and Raven need to work through some stuff without us hanging around and you need to take me on a date.”

Bellamy stopped abruptly enough Clarke, who still held his hand, nearly stumbled.

“Date?” he repeated cautiously and while Wick knew he should totally walk away he also understood something important was happening and he wanted to watch.

Or maybe he was stalling.

It was definitely one of the two.

“You don’t want to take me on a date?” she challenged, mischief in her eyes and in the curve of her smile and Wick could totally see why Bellamy had thought she was worth waiting for.

“Like an actual date,” Bellamy clarified.

“Yes, an actual, real life date and since I’m taking you out I’m buying.” She tugged on Bellamy’s hand again and he was confused enough this time he followed. Clarke waved at Wick and gave him a wide smile over her should. “We’ll see you later, she’s in the living room. Good luck!”

“Thanks,” Wick answered back before he took a deep breath and headed towards Raven with the mentality of a man about to enter a boxing ring.

She heard him come in to the room, looking up from her laptop with an almost forced smile which damn near almost broke his heart. “Hey, I thought you were working today.”

“I was,” he clipped out. “Where are your crutches?”

“By the fireplace,” she waved a hand in the general direction and after spying them leaning against the wall he headed towards them. “Why?”

“Because I’m not arguing with you while you’re sitting down,” he explained as he walked back towards her. “It gives me an unfair advantage and I want this to be a fair fight.”

Raven accepted the crutches and managed to stand up even though she kept her confused gaze on him. “Why are we fighting?”

“I don’t know, that’s what we need to figure out.” He shifted the weight on his feet, which he knew was a nervous habit but couldn’t seem to help himself. “Are you mad I proposed to you? Is that what this is?”

“What? No! I’m not mad you proposed.”

“Then what the hell, Raven?” he asked, throwing his arms out in exasperation.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit, Raven. You pulled back, you know you pulled back and I can’t figure out why.” She blinked and looked away which he knew was as much of a confirmation as he was going to get. “I told you I was okay with not getting married, proposing was just the only way I could think of telling you I wanted you. For keeps.”

He stopped moving and forced himself to meet her eyes so he could see her reaction as he asked the question he was terrified to hear answered.

“Do you want to break up and don’t know how to tell me? Is that what this is?”

There was shock and something else he couldn’t quite name in her eyes, pain maybe?

“No. God, Kyle, I don’t want to break up. That’s literally the last thing I want.”

“Then what? Things seemed to be going good at the hospital, I mean as good as things can be when you’re recovering from a life threatening injury. Then we get here and suddenly no matter how close we are I can’t seem to touch you.”

“I’m waiting for you to change your mind!”

She flinched and he realized she hadn’t meant to say it out loud.

“Change my mind? About what?”

He watched Raven straighten her shoulders, steel her spine, and he knew her well enough by now to know she was making herself look strong. She only ever did that when she was at her weakest. “About proposing.”

“Why the fuck would I change my mind about proposing?” he asked and he knew his voice was impatient and he should probably lower his volume but, honestly, what the hell was she thinking? “Do you think proposing to you was some spur of the moment thing I did on a whim? Something I would just change my mind about it after a week?”

“I believe you meant in the moment,” she finally conceded but her voice was flat and cold, like she’d cut herself off from him and he could almost feel the distance between them getting bigger.

There was something like desperation clawing at his ribs but he couldn’t find the courage to step towards her. “You think I no longer want to spend the rest of my life with you?”

“You didn’t know what was going to happen,” she snapped.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen?”

“The accident, Kyle!”

Raven shot the words at him and he felt them hit their mark, stumbling back a step when he realized what she meant. “You thought I was going to leave you.”

It wasn’t a question, and he felt like the biggest fool on the planet for not getting it, for not seeing she was pulling back, not because he had proposed, but to make it easier on herself for when he left.

“Why wouldn’t you?” she fired back, and there was fury in her voice and in the grip she had on her crutches. “Everyone else has.”

One hand let go of the handle on her crutch and gestured towards the knee brace. “And it’s not like I’m all in one piece anymore.”

“Raven-“

“No,” she cut him off with the single, unwavering word. “We’re not going to act like this is something I’ve made up in my head, okay? Some stupid insecurity bullshit. My mom thought she wanted a kid until she changed her mind, Finn thought he wanted me until he changed his mind.”

“Okay, I realize I didn’t say it when I gave you the ring, but along with saying ‘I want you for keeps’ proposing was my way of saying ‘I’m not going to change my mind about you.’ Next time I propose to you, I’ll clarify.”

“I thought I was supposed to propose to you,” she quipped, sarcasm in every syllable.

“Whatever. The point stands, I asked you to marry me because I only plan on getting married once and that’s to you.”

“You don’t know what this is going to be like in five years, in ten years. My leg,” she added as if it needed clarification. “And I don’t want to say yes, I don’t want to get my hopes up and then somewhere down the road you change your mind because suddenly my leg gets worse and I need to be in a wheelchair or something.”

“Who’s to say it won’t be in the wheelchair in ten years?” he challenged. “What if you hadn’t gotten in an accident, said yes, and somewhere down the line I had a steel bar fall on me or something? If we decide to get married we’re deciding to get married knowing anything can happen. Better or worse is in the vows Raven, and when I say them I’m going to mean them.”

“People say that,” she argued but her words had gone soft and this time when he wanted to get close he didn’t second guess the instinct. “And they mean it in the moment but you can’t know. You can’t really know if it’ll be true when the time comes.”

“Maybe not,” he admitted, framing her face with his hands, forcing those liquid warm eyes he loved to meet his. “But you’re the only person I want to that risk with. I’m not bailing so if you want out, it’s got to be your choice.”

“I don’t want out.”

The weight coming off his chest was almost staggering, he dropped his head to rest against hers with relief. “Okay, to summarize I was worried you wanted out and you were worried I wanted out but since I still want to marry you and you don’t want to break up with me we’re still dating.”

There was a wry little smile at the corner of her mouth as she shrugged. “Yeah. I guess.”

“Thank God,” he sunk onto the couch and she smiled down at him before maneuvering herself to sit next to him. She dropped her crutches on the ground.

“Is this why Clarke came over and dragged Bellamy out?”

“Yeah, I called her.” He draped his arm across the back of the couch, his fingers playing with the ends of her ponytail. “I figured this would be easier without an audience.”

“You were planning on getting in a fight with me?”

“It seemed the most direct route,” he shrugged, not necessarily apologetic. “But if we’re going to keep doing this we should probably figure out a better way of communication than shouting at each other.”

She nodded, “You’re probably right. And along that line I should tell you I’m going to sell my bike.”

Wick paused before reaching up to brush a hand down her ponytail, “I’m sorry, babe.”

Raven shook her head, the movement jerky as she shut her eyes, determined not to cry. “It’s a stupid thing to be sad about it.”

He pressed a kiss to her temple, willing to let the rest of their fight/conversation whatever go for a moment. They were both going to need some time to figure out what came next for the, and figuring out what to do with her bike now that she could no longer ride it…well, that was part of being a unit. Working stuff out together.

“It’s not stupid if it’s what you feel. That bike was the first thing you bought, the first thing you saved for. It’s got sentimental value and you loved riding it.”

She sniffed and he wished she’d be okay with crying. “You’re not going to try and talk me out of it?”

“I can if you want me to,” he offered. “But I know seeing it around and not being able to ride it might break your heart a little and honestly, that’s the last thing I want.”

“You know what I want?” she asked abruptly, turning to look at him. “For you to touch me. You haven’t since I got in the accident.”

“You’re healing,” he explained with a shrug. “I wasn’t about to pressure you-“

She cut him off with a kiss, digging her fingers into his hair as she brutally swept him up in the taste and feel of her.

“I want you, Kyle.”

##############################

He picked her up off the couch and-oh, god-for a being a huge nerd he was exceptionally well built and it was so easy to forget that sometimes.

“Where’s your room?” he asked and the sound of him breathless combined with the feeling of his heart racing against his ribs made her own blood go hot.

She gestured towards the hallway and opened the closed door when he stopped in front of it and there was something about the heat in his eyes and the careful way he laid her down on the bed that stirred her up.

Or maybe it was just that makeup sex was always hot.

Either way she was reaching for the hem of his henley while he tugged at her shorts, their limbs tangling in their rush to get to skin.

“Okay, we’re going to have to take turns here,” Wick informed her with a laugh.

“My bed, my rules. Shirt off.”

Obediently he grabbed the back of his collar and pulled the shirt over his head and off. “I knew I was going to regret making up that rule one day.”

She gave him an unapologetic smile as she reached up and pulled him back down to her, her hands running along the lines of muscles she’d long since become familiar with. She knew there was a scar on his lower back from falling off a roof when he was ten, she knew if she wanted him to be a little rougher all she had to do was dig her fingertips into the hard flesh of his shoulders.

What a wonder it was, she thought as his lips trailed down her jaw, for familiarity to be an aphrodisiac.

She was content to revel in the feel of being with him, beneath him, _(he was so careful to not put any of his weight on her bad leg)_ but when his fingers began teasing the sensitive skin under her shorts she grabbed his wrist to stop him from going any higher.

“I just want to clarify something,”

He braced himself on one of his arms so he could look down at her, his knuckles moving against the skin of her inner thigh despite her hold on his wrist. His eyes went dark when her hips shifted, instinctively trying to get more friction, more contact. Just _more._

“I have another 45 seconds of coherent thought so make it quick.”

“If we have sex right now are you going to propose after?”

Wick grinned, “I don’t have the ring with me. Besides, I told you it’s your turn to propose to me so I think the correct question here is, if we have sex are you going to propose to me?”

“I don’t have a ring,” she informed him dryly.

He shrugged, “Guess we’ll just have to have sex then.”

And she was laughing when he took her over the edge.


	7. Everything's Rearranging and Arranging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wick finally gets his dog and asks Raven to move in with him on a trial basis. Raven doesn't panic. There may be hope for these two love birds yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have no idea what Bellamy's job is in this universe, is he a lawyer? a professor? a social worker? who knows.

Wick stumbled into the kitchen and with bleary eyes, wearing his clothes from the day before, and met Bellamy’s amused gaze.

“Morning.”

With a grumbling sound which was intended as a greeting Wick followed the scent of coffee to the pot on the counter, and after adding a large dose of sugar to the caffeine he poured into a mug he took a large drink and sighed.

“Better.”

“Not a morning person, huh?” Bellamy asked.

Wick managed a glare at Bellamy’s cheerful question. “No and if you are I’m liable to punch you as soon as I’m awake.”

“Fair enough. Cereal is in the cupboard, milk is in the fridge. If you want anything more complicated you’re on your own.”

“Appreciate it,” Wick nodded and took another long drink. “How did your date go?”

Bellamy grinned and leaned against the counter in his sweats and torn t-shirt. “It was good. Though since you’re in my kitchen at the crack of dawn and Clarke is at her place, I imagine it didn’t go as well as yours.”

“It wasn’t a date,” Wick explained easily, going back to the coffee pot to top it off. “It was a fight.”

“Clarke said something about clearing the air. Is everything good?”

Wick thought about it, “It’s better. This is important, for both of us, so we’re going to keep working at it till we figure it out. I appreciate you letting me come over and ravish her.”

Bellamy sputtered out a laugh, nearly spilling his coffee. “I didn’t really have much say in it, but you’re welcome. I think.”

Wick raised his mug in a toast, “Thanks for the coffee. I got to head out.”

“I have an appointment later today and I’m not sure if I’m going to be done in time to take Raven to her physical therapy so Clarke’s going to be the one to take her, will you let her know?”

“Will do,” Wick assured him, padding his way back to the guest room where Raven slept soundly.

“Babe,” he whispered as he crouched down besides the bed and shook her carefully. No single sheet draped sexily over bare skin for Raven Reyes, instead she lay on her stomach, burrowed into the pillows with the sheets pulled up to her chin.

She made a soft, groggy noise which made him smile because of its familiarity. It was the sound she made when she wasn’t quite ready to be awake and had every intention of burrowing back into her pillows to sleep in.

“Babe,” he repeated, shaking her again. She finally opened her eyes and he brushed a tangle of brown hair from her cheek and resisted the urge to climb back into bed with her. “I’m heading out.”

She eyed the mug in his hand, “How gross is that coffee?”

“I drank half of it and then added more coffee so the sugar levels should be about normal.”

Shifting so she could take a drink without spilling it on herself or moving the sheets she accepted the mug from him and took a careful sip. “I don’t know how you stand that much sugar this early in the morning.”

“Sugar’s a food group,” he reminded her. “I just wanted to let you know I’ve got to head out so I can get home and change before work and to remind you that you’ve got physical therapy this afternoon and Clarke’s going to take you but I’ll be the one picking you up. Do you need anything from your place?”

Raven shook her head and set the coffee on the side table next to the lamp. “Not that I can think of right now, but I’ll let you know.”

“Okay, then I’m headed out.” He leaned down and kissed her, “I love you.”

She smiled and buried herself back in her pillow, “Love you too.”

##############################

Raven was out in the garage when Bellamy pulled up in his second hand car, dressed as if he’d just come from a meeting.

“When did you get you bike here?”

“Wick brought it over after he ravished me,” she informed her friend with a grin, having been told about the morning conversation from Wick when he’d called her during his lunch.

“How did he end up staying over?” Bellamy asked as he loosened his tie and dropped his suit jacket on a stack of boxes.

“He brought the bike over then we decided to finish the rest of ‘How It’s Made’ and fell asleep. I hope you don’t mind.”

“If I minded random people sleeping at my house I would have found different friends,” he reminded her dryly. “Are you going to sell your bike?”

Raven looked up from wiping down the Harley, trying to make it shine so it looked good for prospective buyers. “I’m not going to be able ride it again so there’s really no point in keeping it around.”

“You should give it to Wick,” Bellamy suggested. “He can drive you around. You can get one of those sidecars,” he teased.

Raven took a minute to picture blonde haired Kyle Wick in a leather jacket straddling her Harley and she smiled. “I could work with that, but honestly, the guy has terrible balance. You know, he doesn’t know he’s part of our group.”

Bellamy was surprised. “What? How is that even possible? He’s literally the nicest person we know.”

“Right? I told him that how you guys are on his side about the engagement and he was surprised.”

Bellamy’s brows furrowed and it was such a concerned dad look Raven had to bite back the urge to tease him. “You know we’re not trying to pressure you right? We just want you to be happy and we all generally agree he makes you happy.”

“Yeah, I know, not really the point I’m trying to make right now.”

“I know what you’re talking about though. When he dropped you off from the hospital and I asked if he wanted to hang out he seemed surprised.”

Raven knew Wick had his own set of friends, but it was important to her he felt welcomed and included with her friends because they were her family. “So you don’t mind making an effort.”

“Nah, I think we’ve all agreed to keep him. Well, most of us anyway,” he added with a pointed look.

“Ha ha. Fuck you Blake.”

His grin slid away and she saw a look cross his face which was somewhere between cautious and concerned. “Can I ask you a question?”

She tried to keep her tone casual but had a feeling his question was going to be anything but. “Sure.”

“Why did you talk to Clarke about Wick proposing?”

“You mean instead of talking to you?” He nodded and she sighed, trying to figure out how to word her answer. “You didn’t grow up with a dad.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“But it didn’t leave a mark on you, because you had your mom and you had Octavia and they loved you so completely you didn’t have to care about some sperm donor who wasn’t around. But for Clarke and me? We’ve been let down by the people we love, the people we care about.”

“Finn.”

“To start with, yeah. He betrayed both us and then he died which meant neither she or I could get closure, you can’t be angry at someone who is dead after all. Then you have our moms,” Raven sighed. Bellamy was one of the few people who had met her mom, so she knew he understood what she meant.

“Clarke’s mom couldn’t let go of her father’s death, and mine couldn’t let go of the bottle. She understands what it’s like to have a hard time letting people in, believing in people and trusting they won’t leave you. Both of us are trying to heal and you’re already put back together.”

Raven watched Bellamy nod and her heart broke a little for him as she got a glimpse of what Wick must look like when she wasn’t around.

“You know she loves you right? She might be scared and gun shy but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t love you.”

He nodded, but he sounded sad when he spoke. “I know. And he doesn’t mind waiting for you to decide what you want.”

It was that heavy moment Clarke interrupted when she pulled up in her little eco-friendly car with a honk and Bellamy’s face cleared of all concern as he grinned at Clarke.

When he walked out of the garage to greet Clarke Raven called after. “No, don’t offer to help or anything! It’s like I’m crimpled or anything.”

Bellamy ignored her and Raven couldn’t help but laugh as she reached for her crutches and stood up, walking towards the car in time to hear their quiet conversation.

“You guys are all heart eyes,” Raven complained. “I think I like it better when you were biting at each other.”

“There’s still some of that too,” Bellamy promised with a salacious grin even as Clarke reached out of the car window to slap his arm.

“Oh God.”

“I had to hear about you being ravished by Wick,” he reminded her. “All’s fair.”

“Ravished?” Clarke repeated as Raven maneuvered into the passenger seat. “You’re wounded, how the hell are you having sex?”

“Wick’s got really good hands,” Raven admitted with a satisfied smile.

“Okay, I’m going now,” Bellamy announced but instead of walking away he leaned through the open car window to kiss Clarke.

“Oooohhh.”

“Fuck you, Raven,” he warned without any heat before turning back to Clarke and grinning. “I’ll see you tonight?”

“Yeah, I’ll come by about six?”

“Sounds like a plan, I’ll see you later.” He stepped away from the car and gave them a salute. “Later, Raven.”

“Bye lover boy,” she called back as Clarke put the car in reverse. “Do I need to make myself scarce tonight? Because, honestly, I’m surprised you guys have jumped each other already.”

There was silence on the other side of the car so Raven shifted slightly to face her friend. “Unless of course, you have.”

“We talked about it.”

“Talked about jumping each other?” Raven repeated on a laugh.

“A couple of days after the accident I stayed at his place and he said when we start something he wants to _start_ something.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

Clarke made a face as she wove through the traffic. “Honestly? No. It’s been a long time and he has really nice hands,” Clarke observed with a look to Raven as if wanting her to confirm.

“I’m not even going to touch that.”

She sighed with disappointment. “He’s telling me what he needs and I’m trying to respect that because he’s been so good with giving me what I need which is space but...”

“But a vibrator only does so much.”

“Right? You’re so lucky you’re getting it regularly from guy who would happily slay a dragon for you.”

Raven sighed happily, “Wick stayed the night last night.”

“Now you’re just being cruel.”

“I was worried it would be weird, or different.”

Clarke glanced in her rearview mirror before switching lanes and glancing at Raven. “Because of the proposal.”

“Yeah. We still haven’t decided where we are with that, but after yesterday-thanks for the heads up by the way-I think we’re both good where we are right now and if I want something more the ball’s in my court.”

“Your court?”

Raven shifted in her seat and crossed her arms. “He’s told me a couple of times if I want to get married it’s my turn to propose to him.”

Clarke barked out a laugh and Raven was tempted to punch her.

“Yuck it up clown.”

“I’m sorry, I’m just picturing you on one knee with a ring and Wick getting all flustered before saying yes.” She tapped on the wheel of her car and grinned, “I may have to draw it.”

“I will kill you.”

Clarke nodded but Raven didn’t think she was taking the threat seriously which was a shame. She used to be terrifying. She missed being terrifying.

“I’ll make sure when Bellamy proposes he does it on a jumbotron or something really public to embarrass the shit out of you.”

“You do that, you can find your own way to rehab.”

“I’ll just call my dragon slaying boyfriend.”

“Fair enough.”

“I was surprised you were able to get away from work,” Raven pointed and tried not to feel guilty about forcing her friends to change their schedules so they could pick her up and take her to physical therapy and doctor’s appointments.

“Are you kidding? I was so happy to have a reason to cut out early. If I have to do one more sport’s physical I’m going to poke my eye out.”

Raven laughed “Ah, I remember doing those.”

“You played basketball, right?”

“Basketball, soccer, track. I kept busy.” Which had been a requirement for keeping her sanity when her mother went on a bender. It was easier to handle her mother in small increments, especially when the older woman was drinking. If Raven was at practice, at a game, or on a bus coming home later from an away meet she wasn’t having to make sure her mother took a shower, went to work, or remembered to eat.

It was during those long bus rides she’d become friends with fellow track star, Finn.

“You didn’t play any sports?” Raven asked, pushing away the gloomy thoughts but right now her life was good and she didn’t get to sucked back into the dark.

“Do swim and tennis count?” Clarke asked brightly and Raven wondered if her wandering thoughts had showed on her face.

“I’m going to say yes, but only because you’re my friend and I love you.”

“Thanks,” Clarke smirked. “I appreciate it.”

“It’s what I’m here for,” Raven reminded her, settling into the seat and dreaming of the day she could bend her knee again. “No sexy chics or hot dudes to make the day a little brighter?”

Clarke shook her head as she stopped at a red light. “The downside of family practice, most of them are married.”

“True. Besides, you’ve got Bellamy on the line anyway.”

Clarke looked offended, “I don’t have him on the line.”

“I didn’t mean it as a bad a thing, I just meant…He’s your person, isn’t he? I mean, neither of you have dated in a while, although I gather you’re dating now which is weird considering you guys hated each other. _Hated._ ”

“No we didn’t,” Clarke argued, a little too quickly. Raven gave her a look.

“Okay, Bellamy might have hated me in the beginning,” she conceded. “But I never hated him.”

“Then why all the arguing?”

“Because I trusted him.”

“Yeah, that makes no sense.”

Clarke sighed as she stopped at another red light. “I don’t trust easily.”

“News flash.”

This time it was Clarke who gave her the look so Raven pressed lips together in apology.

“So when I met Bellamy and I just trusted him immediately, with no reason or evidence to back it up, I panicked. Like, who the hell does he think he is, making me trust him before I even know him?” Clarke shrugged like she was aware it still didn’t make a lot sense. “And when I was hostile towards him—well, he’s Bellamy isn’t he? He was hostile right back.”

“And here I thought it was just intense sexual tension.”

Clarke smiled as she pulled in front of the rehab center, “There was some of that too.”

##############################

Raven came out to the waiting room after her physical therapy appointment was over and wasn’t surprised to find Wick sitting it one of the chairs, a magazine in hand.

“Ready to go?”

He looked up, “Almost. I’m about to find out if I’m a clingy girlfriend or a cool girlfriend.”

With a laugh she took the magazine from his hand and dropped it on one of the tables. “You’re a cool girlfriend, trust me.”

“Awesome,” he stood up and together they walked towards the door. “This is weird.”

“What is?” she asked as they walked through the sliding doors.

“I usually put my arm around her shoulders when we walk,” he shrugged. “It’s weird that I can’t.”

“Just a couple more weeks,” she promised him as he led the way to his truck. “How was work?”

“It was good, I’m nearly caught up on all my projects so I shouldn’t have any problems hitting my deadline but I was thinking after we leave here we might go on a little errand.”

“That sound ominous.”

“It’s not,” he assured her. “I think it’s a good surprise which is why I was thinking about waiting till we get there before I ask the question I’m going to ask.”

Raven stopped at the truck and grabbed his hand before he could open the door. “And why aren’t you going to wait?”

“Because I don’t want the question to ruin the fun surprise,” he evaded.

“Well, you can’t ruin a doctor’s visit.”

“I was going to ask about your mom.”

She reached for the door handle herself, “I stand corrected.”

“You haven’t called her,” he pointed out, moving so she could open the door and climb in.

“And you think I should?” she asked as she put her crutches behind the seats.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’d have called my mom from the crushed car but I know my relationship with my mom is different than the one you have with your mom and I just…what if this is it?”

She turned him and tried to be patient. They were trying to communicate, right? And he was putting the effort to talk to her about something he was worried about. She wasn’t going to ruin it by getting mad and telling him to mind his own. “What do you mean?”

“Maybe the knowledge she almost lost you will be enough to pull her out of the bottle, maybe it’ll be the start of something new for you both.”

“I wish I had that kind of optimism, Kyle. I do. But I just don’t and the idea of calling her and hearing her slur or act like it’s nothing is exhausting.”

“Okay.”

There was something about his voice which was distinctly not okay. “What?”

“I just…I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here. Do I try to convince you to talk to your mom or do I just let it go? Because I hate knowing you’ve got this weight on you if there’s a chance I can make it go away.”

His concern was touching and he had a point. “My mom and I are never going to be the kind of family I want us to be, and someday I’m going to have to find a balance between having her in my life and letting her control it. But until that happens I’m okay with you checking in because I know my instinct is to be hard and to cut her out completely and that doesn’t do anyone any good.”

“So you’ll call her?”

“I’ll call her,” she promised but was ready to change the conversation. “Now, what’s the surprise?”

He shifted excitedly on his feet, “You’ll when we get there. Buckle up.”

Ten minutes and one argument about the location of the radio dial later Wick pulled into a parking lot on the west side of town and Raven stared at the sign above the door of the brick building surrounded in the back by a fence.

“The pound.”

He grinned, “I had this idea.”

“Oh boy.”

“Shut up,” he warned without any heat. “I was thinking about maybe moving my office upstairs and moving my bedroom downstairs.”

Raven shifted in her seat to face him. She wasn’t an idiot, this wasn’t just some idea he’d out of the blue. This was for her. “Kyle.”

“Hear me out, we could consider it a test drive. You don’t have to move in, but I doubt you’ll want to be living with Bellamy long term and you can’t live in your old place because of the stairs so just stay with me until you’re on your feet a hundred percent and I don’t have to worry about you being on your own with a bad leg.”

She glanced at the building they were parked in front of, “Where exactly does a dog fit in?”

“I know you’re taking a leave at work until you can figure out how to be a mechanic with your knee so the dog could keep you company while I’m at work. I was always going to get a dog,” he added. “It was just one of those things I kept putting off, you know? And whether or not we get married I’d like to think you’re going to be in my life for a long time.”

There was an implied question in the statement and she smiled, “I’d like to think so too.”

“Okay, so if you’re going to put up with me and a dog I figure you should at least get a say in the kind of dog we get. I get. Whichever phrasing works for you.”

She thought about it. She had nothing against pets, she’d just never had one before and it had been kind of nice the last week having Bellamy’s cat around while she puttered around the house. And this would be something, it wasn’t a proposal but it was moving forward, making plans for the long term.

And instead of the panic she’d expected she discovered, much to her surprise, she was excited. “Nothing yappy.”

“Thank God,” he breathed. “Hold on, I’ll help you out. I’m going to need get another car.”

She waited till he’d come around to her side of the car and opened her door, “You don’t have to do that.”

“Do what?”

“Get another car just because of my leg, eventually I’ll be okay to get in and out of it on my own.”

“But won’t it still hurt now and again?”

She shrugged, the doctors and physical therapists had warned the rehab would help the pain and the limp but she’d have to keep it up for the rest of her life if she wanted to keep up her mobility. “Maybe, it’ll just give you a chance to play the gentleman card.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

She settled on the crutches and together they walked towards the entrance, and were greeted by a friendly young woman.

“Welcome to the West End Animal Shelter, what can I help you with?”

“I’m here to get a dog,” Wick replied.

Raven linked her fingers with his, “We’re here to get a dog.”

##############################

After fifteen minutes and three dogs they’d both instantly fallen in love with a Shiba mix, who was busily sniffing and pacing the backseat of the truck.

“I was thinking Fox,” Wick announced and they watched the dog press his nose against the window.

“But he’s not a fox.”

“Your name’s Raven and you’re not an actual raven. Look at him, he looks like he could be a fox.”

Raven turned in her seat to the dog once again pacing back and forth on the bench seat, apparently too excited to sit down. “I thought I heard somewhere you’re supposed to give a dog a two syllable name because most commands are one.”

“Huh. Lycan?”

She laughed, “You want to name our dog after werewolves? You’re so not allowed to name our kids.”

He smiled, heart in his throat at the idea of Raven and him having kids but he didn’t comment on the slip because he wasn't entirely sure she'd heard what she'd said and he didn't want her to take it back. “What’s your idea, genius?”

“Timmy.”

Wick sighed and shook his head sadly. “You can’t give a dog a people name, you should know that.”

She rolled her eyes as he started the truck. “I could be like Bellamy and pick something like Odysseus.”

“Okay, you’re also not allowed to name our kids,” he pointed out and tried not to be to overt in watching for her reaction.

“I don’t think we can name them Kid 1 and Kid 2,” she argued and he couldn’t pin point any stress or anxiety on her face and he wondered if maybe the future wasn’t quite as far away as he’d thought.

“Two kids, huh?” he asked as he pulled on to the street, shoving the dog’s nose back when he tried to sneak into the front seat.

“I always wanted a sibling growing up,” she shrugged. “And I see the way Octavia and Bellamy have each other’s backs and if I ever had kids I’d want them to have that. What about Bigfoot?”

“For our hypothetical kids or the dog?”

She laughed and reached across the console to take his hand and link her fingers with his. “For the dog.”

Wick braked at a stop sign and looked over his shoulder at the dog with his wagging tongue and tail. “What do you think, dog? How’s Bigfoot.”

The dog barked happily.

“Looks like he’s okay with it. Bigfoot it is.” He turned right and turned the radio on low, “Did you say something about coming over tonight?”

“Yeah, when Clarke picked me up I heard her and Bellamy making plans. I figured if they’re finally going to get together it would nice for them to have the place to themselves.”

“Okay, let’s swing by his place and get you some clothes and then we’ll take Bigfoot home.”

“Hey, Kyle?”

“Hey, Raven?”

“I’m really happy.”

He smiled and leaned across the console to steal a kiss, “Me too.”


	8. We're Living Our Lives in a Heartbeat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raven and Wick walk in on Bellamy and Clarke mid make-out, Alana drops by Wick's house for a surprise visit and while Raven doesn't get down on one knee she does have a very important question for the man she's decided she wants to spend the rest of her life with

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a very long chapter, my apologies, it's one of the reasons it took me so long to post. here's to hoping it was worth the wait!

When they arrived at Bellamy's house Raven waited for Wick to open the front door before she walked in with him close behind her but she stopped so suddenly he ran into her back and had to grab her waist to make sure she didn’t fall over.

“Your break lights are broken,” he told her before she waved her hand in front of them where Bellamy and Clarke were participating in the mother of all lip locks. Bellamy’s hands were low on Clarke’s back under her shirt and her fingers were buried in Bellamy’s hair. And even from this distance Raven could see there was a lot of tongue.

“Is this invitation only, or can anyone join?” Wick asked, and Raven saw him barely suppressing his laughter as Bellamy and Clarke pulled away from each other, nearly tripping over each other’s feet in their haste to put some space between.

“Hi,” Clarke greeted on a nervous laugh.

“We didn’t hear you come in,” Bellamy informed them unnecessarily with a look which could have killed Raven if years of friendship hadn't made her immune.

“No kidding,” Raven smirked. “Next time hang a sock on the door or something.”

“Hilarious.”

Clarke fixed her hair and ran her hands over her shirt as if to make sure it was in place. “Uh, Bellamy was about to make dinner if you guys want to join.”

Raven nudged Wick with her elbow, worried he was going to accept the offer. “We actually just came by to grab a few of my things. I’m staying at Kyle’s tonight.”

“You stay there,” Clarke offered quickly, a blush still covering her face. “I’ll pack a bag for you.”

Letting her have the out Raven thanked Clarke before she followed Bellamy who had turned and headed for the kitchen to make his own escape.

“I’m sorry,” she tried to apologize but it was hard to sound sincere when she was trying not to laugh at his mussed hair and wet lips. “If we had any idea what was going on we wouldn’t have just walked in, I swear.”

“I texted you,” Bellamy accused as Wick came into the kitchen behind Raven. “I texted you and told you to steer clear.”

Raven winced and spoke to Bellamy’s back as he rummaged through the fridge. “I turned my phone on vibrate while we were at the pound and forgot to turn it back on.”

He shut the fridge’s door and put the vegetables he’d taken out on the counter. “The pound? What were you doing at the pound?”

“We were shopping for bunk beds,” Raven rolled her eyes. “What do you think we were doing at the pound?”

“We got a dog,” Wick cut in before Bellamy could retort.

“You got a dog!” Clarke nearly yelled behind Wick who jumped at the sudden sound of excitement. “I want to meet him.”

“Clarke-“ Bellamy started but she was already grabbing Wick and pulling him towards the door, a bag over her shoulder.

“I thought you were getting my stuff,” Raven called after her friend.

“I did, it’s not like you have a lot of things to begin with,” Clarke answered, still pulling on Wick’s arm.

Bellamy stepped in front of Raven before she could follow and his face was so serious and frustrated she almost apologized again for barging in on him and Clarke but before she could he put his finger in her face like a scolding dad. She resisted the urge to bite it. “You better make sure this goes quickly.”

Raven snorted, barely able to contain her laughter. “In a hurry to get back to frenching Clarke?”

“Yes, and I will kill both you and your boyfriend without a moment’s regret if you don’t get out of here in five minutes.”

“And make our dog an orphan?” she asked, mockingly horrified. “How could you?”

He threw up his hands in defeat. “I honestly don’t understand why I’m friends with you.”

“It’s a mystery,” she agreed and moved around him to head back outside where Clarke was on her knees petting the dog Wick held onto with a leash.

Clarke was grinning as she looked into the dog’s eyes, “Aren’t you a gorgeous boy? What’s his name?”

“We decided on Bigfoot,” Wick smiled proudly.

“You’re not bringing him inside,” Bellamy warned Raven and Wick. “He’ll attack my cat.”

“The pound said he was good with cats,” Raven informed him, insulted on Bigfoot’s behalf.

Bellamy glared down at Clarke who was happily scratching behind the dog’s ears. “We’re not getting a dog, princess.”

“If we got a dog we could name him Spot,” she cajoled before looking up at Wick and Raven. “That’s what Cerebus translates to.”

“Whatever gets you going,” Wick muttered.

“We should probably head out though,” Raven spoke up when Bellamy cleared his throat and gave her a dirty look.

Clarke stood up and without the attention to keep him still the dog started to wander and tug on his leash.

“We’re going to move Kyle’s office upstairs so his bedroom will be on the first floor,” Raven explained when there was a moment of awkward silence because they all knew why she and Wick should get going.

“Yeah?”

Raven nodded, “Yeah. Kyle, will you put Bigfoot in the car?”

Wick nodded and pulled on the leash and went around to the driver’s side door to let the dog in while Raven opened her door and threw her crutches in. She let Bellamy help her onto the seat.

“Thanks, Rey.”

“You're welcome,” Raven smiled to Bellamy and then raised her voice so Clarke could hear her. “Happy sex, Clarke!”

Clarke laughed, and blushed. “Thanks, Raven.”

“You’re a shit friend,” Bellamy accused but he couldn’t help but smile.

“Might be,” she grinned. “But I’m getting out under the five-minute mark. I’ll talk to you later Bell.”

“Later,” he agreed as he shut the door and walked back inside with Clarke.

“They’re totally going to do it,” Wick laughed as he pulled away from the curb, Bigfoot putting his front paws on the console so he could see out the front window.

“Oh, definitely. Just think about it, all those years of sexual tension. They’re going to do it and it’s going to be awesome.”

“Yeah, I kind of remember something about that,” Wick mused with a wicked grin as he reached over to take her hand.

“But they’re not doing it during a once in a lifetime storm which adds a little something to it I think,” Raven grinned back, remembering the torrential rain which had nearly flooded the entire town and had locked her and Wick in a room long enough they finally did something about the lingering attraction she had been ignoring for years because she’d been with Finn.

There had been something about having his hands on her while lightning and thunder and shook the sky that she would never quite be able to put into words.

“Storms are sexy,” he agreed with a wink as if he could read her mind. “Do you want to pick up food now or wait till we get home to order?”

Something warm curled around her heart at the offhanded question, the use of the word home and she couldn’t help but wonder at the lack of panic in her reaction.

She pushed Bigfoot’s nose back when he tried to lick her face, “Let’s just go home.”

##############################

Raven made her way into the soon-to-be bedroom to see Wick taping the drawers of a filing cabinet shut. “Hey.”

He looked up and quickly read her face. “How did go?”

When he’d gone to the office to start packing things up she’d gotten her phone out to call her mother to no avail. “I got her voicemail.”

Wick settled on the corner of the filing cabinet, resting his hands on her hip so his thumb brushed against the skin just above her jeans. “Did you leave a voicemail?”

“I just told her to call me back when she could,” and she knew her answer sounded defeated as much as anything else.

“She could be at work,” he reminded her. “Or sleeping.”

“Yeah,” she conceded but sighed heavily and leaned forward to rest her head on his shoulder. “Or she could be passed out from drinking an entire bottle of rum.”

“Do you want to go by and check on her tomorrow?”

“No,” she shook her head, raising it so she could meet his eyes. There was such comfort there, she thought, simply and freely given. “If I don’t hear from her in a couple days maybe I’ll think about it.”

“Okay,” and when he didn’t push her for more Raven leaned down to kiss him. Her fingers sifting through the short blonde strands at the back of his neck.

“What was that for?”

“You’re a good guy, Kyle Wick. You know that?”

He squeezed her hips gently before returning the kiss and lingering. “You’re worth being a good guy for.”

And she believed that, when he said it, and that warm feeling of home came back to fill her heart and her lungs, making her fingertips tingle. “Well, good guy, do you want me to order something because I’m starving.”

“Pizza?” he asked, his thumbs absently tracing circles on her hips.

“Pizza," she agreed and kissed him again just because she felt like it. “Anything I can do to help with the move?”

Wick gave her his most charming grin and she immediately regretted making the offer. “Actually, can you do a load laundry?”

“You want me to wash your clothes?” she asked, incredulous.

“Please?”

Raven rolled her eyes, “Fine. But I’m not folding them.”

“Fair enough.”

Raven pulled her phone out of her back pocket and ordered the pizza before she threw a load into the wash and she figured she might as well throw the clothes she brought over as well because she couldn’t trust that in Clarke’s sexual haze she hadn’t grabbed clothes from the dirty pile.

It was as she walking out of the laundry behind the kitchen she heard the knock at the front door and Bigfoot, spurned by the noise ran ahead of her and started barking at the door.

“Zip it,” she ordered Bigfoot as she opened the door while trying to keep the dog from running out of the house.

“New addition?” Wick’s mom asked through the crack in the door.

Raven wondered if there would ever be a time when she saw Wick’s mom and wasn’t immediately nervous. “Alana. Hi.”

“My son’s making you answer the door?”

“He’s busy in the back,” Raven explained, balancing carefully as she used one of her crutches to hold Bigfoot back so Alana could come in. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“It’s wonderful to see you, especially up and about.”

“I’m mostly hobbling but the doctors say I should be able to walk without the crutches in a few weeks.”

Alana nodded and bent down to greet the dog excitedly sniffing at her feet. “Who is this?”

“Our dog, Bigfoot.”

Looking up with Wick’s eyes Alana smiled, “Our dog?”

Raven tried not to feel embarrassed or shy about the admission. “We got him today, it was Kyle’s idea so I could have some company while I was recovering.”

Alana looked around the room as if trying to see if anything was different. “You’re staying here then?”

“For now,” Raven evaded. “We’re not-we’re still not-“

“It’s okay Raven,” Alana assured her as she stood up. “You don’t have to explain anything to me as long you and Kyle are good.”

“Kyle and I are good. We’re solid,” Raven corrected with a nervous laugh which made her want to crawl under the couch and hide for a month or so.

Alana looked quietly pleased and once again looked around the open room layout, from where they were standing near the door they could see the living room, the rarely used dining area, and the kitchen. “Is my son around?”

“Yeah, he’s in the-he offered to switch his bedroom and his office so I could stay over without having to figure out the stairs.”

“Well, I’d say that was very considerate of him but I’m sure he benefits from the move just as much as you do since that means he’ll have you around more often. Is he downstairs or…?”

“He’s downstairs,” Raven answered with a wave of her hand. “But before we get him could we talk for a second?”

“Sure, sweetheart. Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine, it’s just Kyle told me he talked to you about me. About my history,” Raven clarified as Bigfoot ran off to find someone who would pay attention to him.

Alana nodded and set her purse on the table near the front door where they were still standing. “He did.”

There was nothing on Alana’s face which gave away what she was thinking and Raven briefly wondered if Kyle got his expressive face from his father. “I assume he told you about my mother.”

“He didn’t talk about her often,” she replied carefully. “But yes, he told me about your situation and about the problems she's had in the past.”

“Past makes it sound like it’s over and done with it. I tried to call her today to tell her about the accident and she didn’t answer, it went straight to voicemail. I haven’t talked to her in almost a month and I honestly don’t know how she’s doing.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It is what it is, but I was wondering if that’s why you’re doing all this? You sent food over to Bellamy’s and called to make sure I was doing okay and you bought me that stuffed shark. Are you doing that because you feel bad I don’t have a real mom?”

“Partly, yes,” she admitted. “Everyone should have someone to mother them, but I’m also doing it because Kyle loves you which makes you family.”

Raven rolled her eyes even as she felt her heart squeeze. “Jesus, now I know where he gets it from.”

Alana seemed amused by Raven’s tone. “Gets what?”

“His heart,” and she couldn’t help if she sounded irritated about it.

Hands fluttered for a moment before Alana shook her head. “There you go making me cry. You couldn’t have said anything better, Raven. My son picked well.”

“Even if I’m a mess?” she challenged with the raise of an eyebrow.

“Oh sweetheart, we’re all a mess, it’s just a matter of how well we’ve hidden the landfill.”

“So you don’t think Kyle’s making a mistake with me?”

“Honey, if he loves you he’s not making a mistake and it’s not like he’s a pleasure all the time. We both know he can be too occupied with work, he doesn’t always listen when you’re having a conversation with him, and sometimes he makes decisions without asking first. Honestly, you might be making a mistake moving in with him, temporarily or not. He’s terrible at doing the dishes, it drove me crazy when he was kid.”

“So it’s not just a recent thing?” Raven asked, because she’d been getting on him about how soaking dishes was not the same as actually washing them since they’d met.

Alana laughed, “No. I’m afraid not.” Reaching out, the older woman took Raven's hand and squeezed it. “Listen. That boy loves you more than I’ve seen him love anything or anyone and I just want to thank you for making him so happy, and whatever you decide to do I hope you decide it together.”

And because she felt it was important to make the promise Raven met the older woman’s eyes, “I won’t break his heart, Alana.”

“I hope not,” Alana replied and it almost looked as if she was going to say more but Wick came out of the office to see Raven and Alana standing close and almost whispering.

“Hey, what’s going on here?”

“We’ve got a guest,” Raven explained with a smile as she and Alana moved towards Wick and the living room.

“So I see. Hey, Mom.”

“Hello, Kyle. I can’t believe you’re making this poor girl answer the door.”

“I didn’t even hear you knock,” Wick admitted. Raven and Alana shared a knowing smile and Wick immediately put his hands on his hips as Bigfoot rubbed against his jean clad legs. “What was that look? I don’t like that look.”

“You’re being paranoid, babe.”

“Honestly, Kyle. You’d think we were standing here for five minutes talking about you the way you’re carrying on.”

“I’m definitely missing something.”

Alana just smiled, “Raven says you’re moving things around.”

“Yeah, time for a change.”

“And an addition,” Alana pointed out, sweeping a hand towards the dog and Wick’s feet. “How old is he?”

“About a year, according to the pound. He’s been pretty well behaved so far, but he’s probably just on his best behavior. Babe, did you order the pizza?”

“Yeah, it should be here in the next ten minutes.”

“You want to stay for dinner Mom?”

“Oh.” Alana turned to Raven who was surprised Wick’s mom seemed to be making sure it was okay with her so Raven just nodded.

“I’d love to, thank you. Can I help you guys with the moving?”

“I think I’ve got most everything packed and I could use a break,” Wick admitted. As he passed Raven he gave her an absent kiss and whistled for the dog and it felt so homey Raven felt butterflies battle for dominance in her stomach.

“I’ll get plates. Do you want some wine, Mom?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Alana helped Raven sit on the couch and prop her leg up on the coffee table with a pillow before settling in the armchair. Bigfoot helped himself to the empty cushion next to Raven until Wick came back from the kitchen and shooed the dog off the couch.

He set a glass or red wine in front of his mother, a bottle of beer for himself and a soda for her since she was still using pain killers as needed and after the pizza came Bigfoot begged for scraps, Alana told funny stories from Wick’s childhood and his hand was either resting on her knee or his arm was draped across the back of the couch all through dinner.

It was warm and cozy and Raven had laughed so hard at one point she’d nearly cried, Bigfoot resting his head on her lap as if to make sure she was okay.

This, she thought, as she argued with Wick over the toppings she’d ordered, was something she could get used it.

Not long after Alana left with a promise to visit again soon Raven lay in Wick’s enormous bed which was half-hazardly set up in the middle of the room which was almost completely empty of office furniture.

It hadn’t taken her engineer-boyfriend long to figure out how to keep her leg propped up with body pillows so she could sleep on her side and he had instinctively curled up behind her, his big arm heavy around her waist.

“I like your mom,” Raven admitted and she could feel the curve of his smile along the back of her neck.

“She likes you too,” he informed her before pressing a kiss just behind her ear. “You know what I just realized?”

“What’s that?”

“If Bigfoot needs to go in the middle of the night I’m the one who will have to get up to let him out.”

Raven laughed and shifted closer to Wick’s body heat. “I can do it, it’ll just take me a long time. You know, getting my crutches, standing up, walking-well, sort of walking-to the back door, coming back-“

“I get it, I get it. You’re hilarious.”

“Just remember I’m the one who is going to have to take him out during the day while you’re at work.”

He was silent for a moment and she waited for him to spill whatever it was he was thinking through. “I was thinking about working from home for the next week or so.”

Raven wished she could turn on her side so she could face him. “I thought the whole point of getting Bigfoot was so I wouldn’t be lonely while you were at your office.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I can’t hang around the house with my hot girlfriend and cool ass dog.”

With a laugh she found his hand beneath the covers and covered it with her own. “Go to work Wick. Bigfoot and I will be fine.”

“You’re sure?”

“If it’ll make you feel better you can home for lunch.”

“Are you going to make me lunch?”

“Sure, if you want grilled cheese.”

He laughed, kissed her neck again and she could feel him settling behind her. “We’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” she agreed softly, feeling the last little bit of her scared heart click into place. “We’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

For a while she lay in the bed listening to the sound of Wick breathing behind her and in the doorway she could see Bigfoot sleeping as if guarding his new masters from anything which might threaten them and making a decision she reached under her pillow for her phone and typed out a message.

 

_RAVEN, 12:03 AM_

**YOU’RE MY BEST FRIEND RIGHT**

_BELLAMY, 12:04 AM_

**WHAT? JFC IT’S AFTER MIDNIGHT.**

_RAVEN, 12:04 AM_

**ARE YOU MY BEST FRIEND OR NOT**

_BELLAMY, 12:05 AM_

**YEAH. I GUESS.**

_RAVEN, 12:06 AM_

**THEN AS MY BEST FRIEND I NEED A HUGE, HUGE FAVOR**

 ##############################

She heard the front door open and shut before Wick’s voice called out and she’d never been so nervous about anything in her life.

It was six o’clock in the afternoon and she was exhausted from a day of trying to do everything at once. She’d called in her friends, the most generous and loud people she’d ever met in her life, and with their help they’d managed to move the entire office upstairs, paint the brand new bedroom, and distract Wick long enough he didn’t have a chance to come home for lunch.

_Thank you, Monty._

Clarke had picked the paint color, Monty and Jasper had been roped into painting and when they were finished Bellamy had helped set up the furniture and then, because he felt bad for her, he gave her a hand in getting the room ready for a proposal. A couple dozen candles now lit the room, the heavy scent of white roses filling the air from nearly every flat surface and she stood in the middle of the room wearing a black strapless dress and while Clarke had insisted the crutches didn’t ruin the look Raven was determined to stand on her own when she threw her heart at Wick's feet so she leaned carefully against foot board.

She would have to remember to congratulate Wick later on either being incredibly brave or incredibly cocky for proposing to her when he had no idea what she’d say because she didn’t think she could have done this if she wasn’t nearly certain he was going to say yes with a smile.

“I’m in the bedroom,” she called back, twisting her fingers together anxiously as she heard his heavy steps coming towards her and when he came into the room there was nothing but awe and wonder on his face.

“I don’t want to offend you and ruin what looks like is going to be a very good moment but I have to ask. Bellamy helped you, didn’t he?”

Raven laughed, the tension and raw nerves leaving almost instantly. “White roses stand for new starts and hope. I’m pretty sure we stole his proposal to Clarke but he’ll figure something else out.”

He visibly swallowed and dropped his bag on the floor. “Okay. Cool. Moving on. Hi. You look beautiful.”

She smiled, and held out her to bring him closer and when he linked his fingers with hers she thought she might have seen tears in his eyes.

“You said if I wanted to get married it was my turn to propose you.”

She reached into the pocket of her dress and heard his soft laugh when she held out her palm to show him the black tungsten ring she'd picked out from a series of photos sent to her by Bellamy.

“I can’t promise I won’t have doubts,” she started as she met his eyes in the flickering light of the candles. “I can’t promise there won’t be a time either tomorrow or next year I won’t wonder if we did the right thing, but I can promise there won’t be a day that goes by I won’t want to fight for this. For us. Because who we are together, who I am with you, is the most important thing in my life. You make me brave enough to be vulnerable, you make me laugh, and you make me feel safer than I ever have in my life and it's for those reason and countless others I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you. So, Kyle Mathew Wick, will you marry me?”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

He framed her face and instead of pulling her to him, which would have made her lose her balance, he leaned towards her. He kissed her like she was precious and perfect and she would have been happy to get lost in the moment but there was one thing they had to take care.

“First things first,” she murmured against his lips. “We have to make it official.”

His grin nearly split his face and he dropped his hands from her face. “I can’t believe I get a ring, this is so cool.”

She reached out to put it on him but stopped, “Do we put it on the left hand?”

He thought about it before shrugging. “Don’t know, let’s do the right hand. I don’t want it on my left hand until we’re hitched.”

“I don’t want a big wedding Wick,” she started as she slid the ring over the knuckles of his finger. “I know you’ve got a big family and all but I just-“

“Soon,” he promised her with a kiss. “We’ll get married soon and we’ll make it small. Twenty-five people tops.”

“Ten.”

He tilted his head, “Fifteen. I’ll settle for fifteen and blame my wife when my family members complain about not being invited.”

The nerves she felt dancing were from excitement not fear.  _Wife._ Oh God, she was really doing this. “Deal.”

“Hold on,” he told her when she grabbed his shirt to pull back to her and he reached into the front pocket of his jeans and pulled out the ring he’d proposed to her with only a few weeks before.

“You have the ring on you?”

“I’ve been carrying it around since I proposed to you,” he admitted.

She wanted to hit him. “When we were at Bellamy’s you said-“

“I lied,” he shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. “I didn’t want you to think I was carrying it around waiting to propose to you again.”

“Then why were you carrying it around?”

“Wishful thinking?” he said as if he wasn’t too sure himself. “And you can’t have your ring back,” he told her with a mocking scold, as if she would change her mind because he'd been carrying her ring around. “You proposed, I said yes, no take backs.”

“You’re five,” she accused as she bit back a laugh.

“Do you want the ring or not?”

She laughed again and held out her left hand. There were five diamonds inset into the gold band, the middle one slightly bigger than the others and she marveled at the simple beauty of the ring.

“I thought about designing you your own ring but when my mom offered hers…” he let the sentence die off with a shrug.

Raven held her hand out in the space between them so she could see the gleam of the diamonds reflecting the flame from the candles. “How about this, you can make me my own ring for our tenth anniversary. I’ve never had an heirloom before, Kyle. It matters you gave me my first one. ”

He smiled as he took her hand and kissed the knuckle above the ring. “I don’t expect you to change your name or anything.”

Raven shook her head even as she studied the ring on her hand and knew the panic she’d been worried would rear its ugly head wouldn’t be making an appearance tonight. “Reyes doesn’t hold any sentimental value to me. I mean, who am I trying to honor with it?”

“Yourself.”

“Fuck. That was good, that was a good line. But seriously, this is a new start for me, trusting you. Trusting us. I want to honor that start with a change.” She closed her eyes and said the words in her head before letting them roll off her tongue. “Raven Wick.”

“Raven Marie Wick,” he corrected with a goofy smile.

“Yeah,” she grinned. “I can live with that.”

He kissed her like he hadn’t kissed her in months, like he wouldn’t kiss her again for years, and she let him sweep her away in the feeling of passion and home being in the same person.

“One month,” he said when he finally pulled away. “As soon as you can walk down the aisle without a cane or crutches.”

“One month,” she agreed.

“I’m gonna marry the hell out of you Raven Soon-to-be-Wick.”

She laughed and started to pull him down for another kiss, not quite sure she'd ever have enough. “Right back at you.”


End file.
